AlphaBeta
by sentinel10
Summary: A collection of stand alone Blackwater one-shots. Chapter 5 rated M.
1. A

**All recognised items belong to their owners **

* * *

><p><span>AlphaBet(a)<span>

...

A is for Argument

...

"I'm going to fucking kill you, Black," Leah hollered from the upstairs bathroom, her footsteps clearly indicating where in the house she was. The amount of force she was eluding with her bare feet was causing the old wooden floor boards to shake and groan under her anger.

Seth rolled his eyes from the living room and concentrated back on his game. It had been like this for the past two weeks and coincidently every time he tried to level up on the new Halo game he'd gotten for his birthday. To be frank, he was getting quite sick of baring witness to the epic arguments within his home. With Sue at work, there was no one brave enough to step between the two hard heads.

It was always the same. Leah got pissed; Jacob did something stupid, Leah yelled, Jacob yelled back.

Things were broken more often than not and he hated that they would somehow manage to use _his_ stuff as projectile missiles to 'kill' the other Alpha wolf. Ever since, he had been trying in vain to hide his most valuable items away from the crazy shape-shifters who had over run his abode.

"Why the Hell would you go and do that?" she screamed; the sound of glass smashing against the wall of her bedroom following her.

Seth winced. He only hoped that it wasn't one of his new glass tipped bows that he'd managed to score at the 'Lord of the Rings' convention in Seattle. Touching his chest, he breathed a sign of contentment, realising he was wearing his silver linked 'mithril' vest.

If it wasn't for his sister though, and the blue and white piggy bank she took the liberty of smashing, he would never be the proud owner of something so awesome.

His, _precious_.

Seth glanced to Embry who looked totally and utterly amused with himself. He had that 'I-know-something-you-don't' glint in his eye and Seth _knew_ Embry was privileged to some kind of information he wasn't.

Focusing back on the game Seth tried to brush the hostile feeling off but it was as if Embry's gaze was taunting him, boasting, and the other wolf even seemed to be snickering under his breath from the confusion on his face.

"You know why I bloody well did it, Leah! Stop being a fucking coward!"

"What the fuck, Embry?" Seth growled out feeling his teeth grinding against each other to the point of leaving white dust in his mouth from the pure exertion of force.

It was getting on his nerves to know that Embry had privy information he didn't. Seth was the Alpha female's brother and he was _supposed_ to know everything. Yeah he was a Gamma wolf, but still.

"I hope you die under the scolding heat of a thousand suns' you self-righteous prick! You had no right!"

Before Seth could open his mouth Embry smiled, holding a finger to his lips and tilted his head to the stairs just in time for Seth's attention to draw to the spot. Seth watched as his sister shot down the steps with a scowl on her face, followed by an even more ferocious looking Alpha. Jacob Black definitely had a temper on him, but compared to his sister and mother, he was just a playful kitten batting at a ball of wool.

"Hang on just a second," Jacob growled, pulling her back to face him. "You told me you were over him."

Jacob could feel the pressure mounting in his neck as he pressed his lips together waiting for a reply. He wanted to scream, kick his legs and bitch at her for being such a fucking hypocrite. But he knew that would do no good. With Leah, he had to fight fire with fire. Backing down was not an option unless he wanted to be called a pussy for the rest of his supernatural life.

"I _am_ over him, you douche," Leah spat, ripping her elbow from his grasp and pushing against his chest. Her hair was in disarray; its glossy blackness looking like she'd just stepped out from the shower. She hated when Jacob got in her face and pushed her. He was always pushing, pushing, wanting more than she was willing to give. "But that doesn't mean I want to go and watch him _marry_ my cousin. Sam can go fuck himself for all I care, doesn't mean I want to watch, Black!"

Seth instantly caught on to the topic of their latest argument. Somehow, someway, each time the Alpha's argued, it was either over Sam or Bella, the two natural disasters that had torn holes through both of their hearts.

Seth could relate. He'd once had an action figure that was kept in mint condition up until the day he became a wolf. He'd loved that little limited edition R2D2 figurine with all his heart and he'd been forced to watch its packaging shred the moment he phased out of his boxers with it still in his hands.

"It will make it easier," Jacob nodded, his voice dropping to barely a whisper as he looked sincerely at her. "To watch him become hers. I'm not promising that it will take all of the pain away Leah, but it will get better."

Leah stood angrily in front of him, her hand wrapped firmly around her wrist to stop herself from socking her big, bad, nosing fucking Alpha in the jaw. How did Jacob Black always manage to get under her skin? He was a plague, infecting and never leaving its host.

Focusing on the small side table beside him, Leah attempted to calm herself from going 'Kill Bill' on his ass. In some small ways Jacob was _maybe_ right. Maybe watching Sam marry Emily would be for the best. Maybe it would finally be concrete evidence that there was no chance or glimmer of hope for Sam to come back to her.

Not that she'd take him back anyway. That boat had sailed so many years before.

"Whatever, Jake. It was still _my_ decision," she spat, though this time with much less intensity. Sighing, she rolled her eyes at Jake's hopeful face.

"And I know what a stubborn ass you can be, Clearwater, that's why I took the liberty in replying for the both of us," Jacob whispered as a small glimmer of a smile began to rise on his lips.

He knew Leah would soon see his point and he knew he had to convince her that this was just another step; much like attending Bella's wedding had been for him. By picking Edward, Bella had made her choice final. There was no question about it. Even though it hurt, Jacob felt something break that day. Like the bonds that he held with the shy, introvert, clumsy girl he'd grown up with snapped and set him free. Destiny was about choosing, and that day, she'd granted him freedom. Friendship was finally enough for them.

Leah's eyes narrowed at the sight of Jacob's mouth, which was threatening to break into a full-blown grin. She really hated losing an argument to him.

Glancing left Leah noticed Seth and Embry seated on the couch, their necks almost twisting a full circle to watch the confrontation.

"Show's over ladies," she hissed, slapping the back of Seth's head which he rubbed profusely.

"Ow Lee, what the hell was that for?" Seth whined as the pain turned into a low throb against his skull. She may have been a girl, but she had the backhand of Andre Agassi.

"Eavesdropping," she replied simply as she shot her glance to Embry who was giggling like a school girl and holding a hand to his mouth. "What the hell are you laughing at Call?" Leah growled as she looked to and from both the wolves who were making permanent dents in her mother's couch and eating her out of house and home.

Embry couldn't help but hold his sides as he burst out laughing, shaking his head and making the windows seem like they were going to shatter under his deep booming voice. "I- I-" he gasped between breaths trying to get a hold of himself.

"Spit it out, Forest Gump!" she snarled tapping her foot and crossing her arms tightly against her chest. She was clearly surrounded by idiots.

Taking a deep breath Embry swallowed his fit of amusement. "I can't believe – _you guys_ - are having _sex,_" he smiled pointing between both Jacob and Leah.

"What?" Leah screamed, dropping her arms and making tight fists. Every wolf in the lounge room wasn't folded by her scowl though. She was blushing profusely as she stared at Embry in a state of shock.

"Do something Jacob!" she commanded when Embry began laughing again with Jacob following closely behind with a deep snort and chuckle.

"Ew, dude, no," Seth whined, placing his head between his legs like he was going to hyperventilate. "I think I'm going to be sick," he groaned, closing his palms over his ears to try and rid the playback of what Embry had said in his mind.

"You good for nothing asshole!" Leah shouted at Jacob who merely high fived Embry and grinned like he'd won some kind of teddy bear from the rigged toy machines.

Spinning on her heel Leah stomped out the front door, slamming it behind her as she darted toward the woods.

"It's good, right?" Embry smirked as Jacob took a seat in the recliner still smiling smugly.

"Hell Em, it ain't good, it's great. Plus, you know what they say about angry sex-" Jacob didn't have time to finish before Seth darted out of the room to one of the bathroom's, his face pale and looking slightly green.

"Poor kid," he said to Embry, listening as Seth groaned and heaved into the bathroom sink.

"Yeah man. Guess he just realised his sister is getting more than him," Embry laughed tossing Jake the now free controller.

Jacob shook his head with a smile present. He'd won _this _argument by a small technicality but he still took it as a win.

Yeah, life was _good_.

AN - I wasn't really supposed to release this until I finished the whole Alphabet. BUT, I have decided to get rid of all of the stories I am holding on to, in an attempt to clear my head so I can update my other stories. *shakes fist at other stories*

This was a challenge set by KeiKatJones and Cucumber07, to inspire all that Blackwater love deep inside our hearts and to stop me from straying toward my dangerous love of seeing Edward and Leah together.

So basically we all wrote for the same prompt and shared our views of how we saw a Leah and Jacob pairing based on that.

ARGH - Kei and Cu are so amazing! I love them and I plan to marry them both! Clearly.


	2. B

AlphaBet(a)

...

B is for Ball

...

Leah stood in the middle of the clearing, her face set in a small smirk as she dragged her tongue across her bottom lip. It was cold out, the trees blowing a small drifting breeze across the clearing; gently bending the soft blades of grass as the southerlies picked up and moved around her.

She could almost smell the rain as it descended in the horizon, slowly moving north bound towards her like a slow moving hurricane; taunting and threatening to drop. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable or not, knowing that with it, the rain brought thunder, lightning and despair.

Pressing her lips together in a firm line she glanced over her shoulder and looked to the outfield. It was clear, her team spread strategically in a military type formation, her little soldiers ready to take the orders of their Marshall, their Captain.

The smell of the rain, as it neared, grew stronger, it's fresh and lively scent hitting her senses like the first flower in spring. With the slow drizzle of opening rainclouds starting to land upon the blue cotton of her shoulders, it felt just like the _first_ time.

Exactly like the rain had felt when she was twelve years old and standing in the very same spot she now stood.

Closing her eyes tightly she imagined the feeling of being here with _him_. The laughter, the smiles, the excited embraces as they both jumped for joy screaming about how awesome they were and how they would grow up, move away and become the best damn players ever.

Was it so bad to dream, to hope, that the future would hold more for them than what the tribe expected? How could they want a simple life when all they could picture was perfection?

Rolling her shoulders she dipped her head, letting it tilt up just enough to see under the brim of her cap.

It was like old times again, Billy standing in the stands cheering without his chair, with her father, both their mothers cutting fruit for the half time break so the team could snack and replenish their energy. Streamers hung from the stands, team colours displayed like moving flags, families, younger childern playing on the sidelines.

If she tried hard enough she could even see her father waiving from high up in the stands and touching the brim of his own hat, three fingers pressed discretely into his cheek.

Nodding up at him, she licked her thumb and adjusted the cap on her head brushing back the stray hair and tucking it behind her ear with the other.

She could see _him_ standing on home base, swinging the bat high above his head, and shaking his shoulders and hips out - ready - to literally hit the ball out of the park.

Her younger brother sat back on his heels, the caged helmet over his face allowing him to position his throwing hand under the new red glove he'd gotten over Christmas.

Showing her a series of signals and effectively blocking it from the eyes of others, Seth went through the motions.

With her mind deciding on the pitch, the sequences began bouncing around her head, forcing her eyes to analyse the grounds and wind around her. She could already picture the angle of the perfect pitch as it lingered in her foresight.

She waited as Seth signalled the first -

One. Four. _Fast ball. Inside_

No.

Two. One. _Curve ball. Away_

Leah dropped her chin, nodding to her brother that this would be the play.

She would make the last ball her favourite pitch, the one she'd kept hidden, the one she'd been practicing all year, this time and only this time.

She'd been working, sweating and breaking the skin on her palms to get it right, to make it stick. Her shoulder had been iced so much over the last month she wasn't sure if it burned from the cold or the lack thereof.

Pulling her bottom lip through her teeth she gave one more quick glance to the field before she tucked her glove behind her back and breathed words only she could hear. Words that her father had given her the first time.

_'Like it's your last'_

The white tape that was strapped to her middle and pointer finger squeezed the ball with enough pressure to feel its presence. It was all about this moment; the moment wherein her father was watching, her friends, family, everyone.

In this moment, she was as high as she would ever get.

Stepping on her right foot she swivelled back and brought her left leg up into a jerk, bending her knee and squaring her shoulders.

Seth was calmly shuffling in his place as he waited for the called play to begin; his heels sliding back to get his glove in the right position.

Leah smiled feeling the wind and rain fall harder, the rain drops clouding her vision but only enough to know that this was it.

This was the moment.

Dropping her throwing shoulder and tucking the ball into the glove, her forearm and biceps tensed, bringing up both clamped hands before letting the coil snap, to bring her arm across her body and sail the ball towards its destination.

As soon as the ball left her hand, everything else around her fell away.

There were no spectators, no family, and no players.

Just her; in a big empty field looking down at a fraying brown baseball glove, which needed to be re-stitched and mended badly.

Turning in a slow circle she looked across the field. It was no longer clean cut and mowed, no longer kept in the top condition it had once been. Where the makeshift stands used to be, grew large vines and shrubs; climbing and weaving through the empty space. The grass was clumped, torn up and dead.

There was no green left. No life left.

Nothing.

Nothing but her in an empty field.

Tucking the glove away in a backpack, Leah walked back towards town, toeing and kicking pebbles that taunted the path she was on. She stuffed her hands deeper into her pockets to somehow rid the feel of _him_ walking by her, bumping her shoulder playful, their fingers brushing so innocently, like they always had after a game.

This was the road they both walked. The road they'd walked for years.

She wondered when it suddenly forked along the way, separating their paths.

When had the fork become too much to bare?

_He_ called often. Every Sunday. She didn't dare pick up and she didn't dare call back.

How could she?

What did they have left? What was there that time hadn't eroded or memories hadn't sealed away, unavailing anyone to re-open the concrete past. So she went on ignoring the calls and living out her existence quietly and deftly, no longer creating ripples in the calm still waters of Forks.

Nearing closer to town she waved to those who acknowledged her and only briefly stopped to talk to some people they used to play ball with back in grade school.

They'd told her how they were back for the holidays, how they'd spend it with their families, loved ones. How they'd been planning a bonfire that they hoped she would attend. How they'd seen _him_ on TV and wondered what had happened to them.

With a shrug and a fake smile she told them she'd think about it, but thanked them nonetheless for the invite.

They knew she wouldn't go, she never did.

As soon as she arrived home she shrugged off her coat and retrieved the ice pack from the freezer.

Slinking into the old ratty couch she flinched as the coldness hit her shoulder and spread from her blade to her elbow, casting the arm, which was once going to be her freedom, into pure agony.

It always played up around this time of the year, the same time of the year that she'd promised to paint the drab, grey like, walls with a colour that didn't represent the way she felt inside.

She wanted to see if she was able to change the walls of the house, that maybe the own walls of her heart would cave and change as well.

She never painted the walls.

It was too much effort.

...

Sitting in the middle of the yard on her mother's plastic lawn chairs, she rubbed and massaged her shoulder while sipping on a beer that her brother had snuck out of the house. Her mother hadn't been watching at the time and she was grateful for Seth's stealth skills.

The pressure of her fingers felt good against her skin as they streamlined along the muscles, trying to soothe and diminish its insistent ache.

Christmas was here but it wasn't the same. Some thing's that used to feel warm and had the ability to comfort, now felt cold like a deep winter. She couldn't really explain the feeling. How _his_ lack of presence seemed to morph into a physical state. A state in which she could feel and no one else.

Closing her eyes tightly she let her head drop as she smacked her lips together.

Seth had known not to sit down in the spare chair next to her – not when she was having an episode - so when she heard the heavy footsteps approaching, her ears perked up long before her head. She didn't want the company. Didn't need it.

"Drinking Leah? Really?" she heard him say in an amused tone.

She was albeit.

Her hand pulsed around the bottle, exerting so much force the inevitable happened. The bottleneck smashed inside her grip, glass slicing her hand. She was so tense she didn't even shake the glass free and instead held it impossibly tighter.

"Shit Lee, your hand," he hissed, attempting to near her, his boots shifting heavily in the blades which were slightly overgrown and in need of some tender love and care.

"It's fine," she relied flatly, looking down at her hand and watching the blood trickle in small thin lines through and across her fingers. She watched as the blood pooled near her wrist and began wrapping around her forearm, devouring her tanned skin under the dark glow of the red liquid.

"It's not fine. You're going to bleed to death. Here take my shirt," he growled, slipping the white material off his body and wrapping it around her still balled fist.

She looked anywhere but at him.

She wanted to though. Wanted to look into those chocolate eyes, become lost in them, and become the Leah she once was.

But nothing was going to change that now.

She'd been trying to forget him, trying to make believe he didn't exist. That he didn't leave her for college. That he didn't want her to be tied to him. She'd been trying to forget for so long, that now he was here; crouched in front of her, she didn't even see him.

"I said, it's fine" she snapped, untwisting the shirt and throwing it back at him.

Red blood smeared the material, its threads now stained with her incandescent life force. It was unclear just how much she had left in her veins and whether she could consider what she had, a bare minimum of a life.

Getting up from the plastic chair she kicked it angrily before stomping back toward the house.

"You can't run from me forever Leah. You have to talk to me eventually!" he called out making her falter her step.

"Watch me," she whispered, wrapping her hand in the hem of her shirt and curling it toward her chest.

After two years how could he just come back and talk to her like he didn't kill her. Like her heart didn't shatter into a million pieces and fall from her chest because of him.

"I'm moving back Lee. I've come back." His smooth voice rang out again, this time completely stopping her in her wake.

"Why won't you say anything to me? I'm sorry okay? You know I'm sorry. Every day I wish I could take it all back and make it go away. I just want us to go back to the way we were. I _need_ us to go back to the way we were."

Leah breathed in a shaky line of air to try and compose herself.

"I fucking love you more than anything, but you just keep pushing me away Leah," he explained angrily. "You push and push until the only thing I want to do is curl up into a miserable shell and die. I _need_ you with me!"

Leah watched as her mother and brother filtered out onto the back porch and watched Jacob make his declaration, his apology if you will. She was far past apologies and didn't have the strength, or the energy to fall back in love with him. Make him her heart. Make him her pillar, her guiding light.

"I can't trust you. What about Baseball?" she whispered, turning back and looking at him for the first time.

He'd grown a little, his usually happy smile turned into a heartbroken frown. His eyes no longer playful but serious and longing, his baby features had also blended out in sharp lines and strong angles. Every time he was on the television she had to flick the channel and watch something else, something that made her heart hurt less.

He'd left – _gone_ – while she remained.

They both had dreams, they both had aspirations and as he was living his, she was trapped in a shitty town, working the night shift at a construction site and nursing an injured pitchers shoulder.

Out of everything, it was his shoulder she envied most.

To be able to throw, pitch – do something she no longer could.

Leah couldn't help it when the tears began to fall and roll down her cheeks.

"You promised me you'd never leave me, Jacob. You promised me that I could go with you. You broke every promise you ever made me. I never once broke mine. I waited - I _waited_ and _fucking_ waited for you to send for me, for you to come back and pick me up. I sat on the god dam porch for days waiting for your car to come speeding down the dirt road and you know what I saw? Nothing. I didn't see your car, you or _us_." she screamed, her voice shaking and out of sync.

"I'm sorry Leah, I'm so sorry. It was out of my control. Once they had me signed I was like their fucking puppy. I had to do what I was told. I needed the money for us. I needed it because - I needed us. It was our ticket out of this hellhole."

Leah scoffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Yeah Jake. And it was you that left me in this hellhole alone. You know that right?"

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

She hadn't even remembered when he'd moved from his place, to hers. He was so close she could finally smell the faint line of aftershave on his skin and feel his hands holding her head to look at him.

"Look at me, in the eyes and see that I never meant to hurt you. I love you and I am back. For good."

His eyes held great remorse but she didn't want to see it, didn't want to know how he'd felt.

She felt enough for both of them, for both of their broken lives – broken hearts.

"You left me," she said simply, her eyes downcast unable to remain starring into his orbs; getting lost, shipwrecked, and eventually drowning.

"But I'm here _now_. I'm here to make it up to you. I don't want that life Lee. The money, the cars, the fucking contracts, I don't want any of it if it doesn't come with you. You're the _only_ one that ever made the game what it is. Without you it means nothing to me."

Jacob could feel her body slowly surrender to his and he hoped that she'd believed every word he'd said.

They were true words, words that were branded against his bones, branded against his heart, branded right next to her spot inside him.

"Come on," he whispered, tugging her uninjured hand. "Let's clean you up."

When he felt her comply, he breathed out a long sigh.

It was going to take a while for her to open up to him again, time for her to forgive him, trust him.

But he was willing to put in the effort. He wanted her to be able to trust him, love him, and play _ball_ with him again.

Just like they used to.

Just like they should have all along.

He'd once thought that money and fame would keep them happy, that it would make their lives full and whole.

But now he knew better.

When he'd stood in the middle of the large stadiums all over the country, in other countries, shaking out his shoulders and staunching his hips, he'd only pictured one thing.

One moment.

Him and Leah; standing in the middle of the clearing with nothing else but an old worn out glove, a wooden bat and the love that beat between them.

AN - Awww. Small tear. GAH! Thanks for the reviews guys! I leave for Brisbane tomorrow (I'll try get out C before I leave) and I am so excited! My bestie got me the most fuckawesome V-Day present ever! She upgraded our flights to Business Class. So spoilt. Her husband offically hates me! LMAO!

Don't forget to check Kei Kat Jones. She is also writing to the same prompts. She's amazing. QUICK! Go ask her to be your Valentine! Love ya.


	3. C

AlphaBet(a)

...

C is for Camp

...

The sound of the chopper propellers sound fiercely around them as Jacob ducks down to meet her ear. Her face is shielded from the intense wind though it still manages to whip her long hair, which is tied tightly into a bun. The sight makes him want to run his hands through the stray hairs much like he had the night before in the calm peaceful sanctuary of their bedroom.

Her features are pulled into a look of intense concentration as she slips into her harness.

"Be careful out there!" he yells, trying to make his voice heard over the hurricane of air that is being ricocheted around them. He watches as her hands work furiously checking the steel cord, which is twined around the clamp raise winch.

"Don't get all soft on me now, Jake," she yells back while a smirk plays on her full lips.

Snapping the winch back into place she hands him her safety cord, allowing him to pull down firmly on it to ensure she won't slip out of the blue and red life line. Dropping down quickly she retrieves a bag and straps the cord along her bust, double tying it securely as always.

She looks up and frowns seeing the concerned face of her husband looking back at her. He is always so worried when she is called out to a job and she wants nothing more than to kiss his worry lines away. She knows their relationship has suffered from the mental anguish she brings home with her, but somehow they would always push through and made it work.

If there is anything Leah could count on Jacob for, it was that he knew how to make the pain diminish. He knew how to make her feel less worthless if a day at work hadn't gone as planned or if they had to call off the search parties early.

All in all, Jacob knew her, and that was as much as she could ask for.

"Seth said to take the eastern bloc. The trekkers are on the shafts end of devils peak! North, towards the hills! County police said they found the family's camp four miles from there! Mother, father and son have all been accounted for."

Nodding minutely Leah allows Jacob to continue feeding her the information. "Her name is Lilly. She's seven years old. Father said she'd gone after the family dog and they haven't seen her since morning!" his voice bellows. "Seth's got Embry and Quil tracking with the dogs!"

Jacob can't help but take her hand in his own, squeezing down to silently filter his emotions to her. He knows Leah has always wanted to name their first daughter after her grandmother, Lilly, and he can see that glazed look in her eyes.

It's a dangerous look.

Even with the air thick around them Jacob pulls her into his arms and kisses her temple, holding her head in a tight brace to his lips.

"Be safe, baby. Come back to me," he whispers against her skin as she wraps her arms around his torso and drags his heat closer.

He closes his eyes and stands with her just a moment, relishing the feel of her with him. She is a beautiful woman but he loves her for more than just the person she is on the outside. She is strong, funny, crazy, soft and most of all unique. He's never met a woman like her and even he was stunned when she'd asked him out after he'd tried to think of a way to do the same.

She is always two steps ahead of him, but he knows she loves him by the way she takes his hand and waits for him to catch up.

"I'll see you when I get back!" she whispers into his ear, pulling away and using the strength of her arms to secure herself inside the helicopter.

Looking back she smiles and mouths an 'I love you' to him before signalling for Charlie to take them up by swirling her finger.

Jacob's frown increases, though his lips voice back his own words of love. Looking out into the horizon he feels his insides squeeze watching as the black rainclouds gather closer towards the tiny town.

He doesn't like the fact that his wife is still being gung-ho and sticking with her job when they'd only just found out – last night – that they were going to finally be parents. She is only just over five weeks along and she isn't even showing yet, though he wants nothing more than to shoot the steel bird out of the sky and take her - and his baby - back into his arms.

Leah has been part of the _'Washington Air Search and Rescue'_ team for over three years and she is their best 'rescue and retrieve' officer. She is nimble, a fast thinker and her strength far outweighs her size.

She has always been a favourite in the department because of her weight to height proportions and her amazing ability to retrieve larger loads. Almost all of the other officers weighed in at over two hundred pound of muscle, and the density of the cable could only hold another two fifty after that. Hence, Leah was the best '_man_' for the job.

Jacob is proud that his wife has such a meaningful job however that doesn't make up for the long nights he works at the county hospital wondering if she is okay. They'd met after he had been transferred from Boston General out into the middle of nowhere, taking up residency at the small, yet very busy, rural hospital in Forks.

He's seen his fair share of car accidents and shootings but what regularly comes in are people involved in drowning's, chainsaw accidents or alcohol-fuelled violence. Shooting season is often another big worry, which is only around the corner, and he knows he would have to have his emergency team on their feet and in best working condition for the onslaught.

Slowly he makes his way back down the roof stairs, to the control panel and radio, which Seth had been manning since the early hours of the morning. He looks tired and his eyes are blood shot; his face stitched into a mask of concentration.

Seth and Leah, along with their stepfather Charlie had taken to funding their own search and rescue team long before government funding had begun to pay them. Charlie was a cop from way back when, and both Leah and Seth knew the woods like the back of their hands having grown up in the area.

Chatting with Seth for a while Jacob begins to relax knowing that between the members of the small team, they had years of experience.

"Leah, are you near the canyons yet?" Seth asks into the headset, which provides a direct link into the helicopter and into the earpiece Leah also wore. It is a good system the siblings have going and over time have found that it was quicker to relay information this way, as opposed to actual walkie-talkies.

"Give us a minute Seth, we only just got in the air around the camp," she snaps back as Jacob sits down besides Seth as he rolls his eyes. "And don't do that," she growls, knowing full well what reaction her baby brother would be having.

Covering his mouthpiece, Seth laughs and turns to Jacob. "You married the devil," he smirks shaking his head before turning back to the control. "Leah, we got a shit storm rolling in, twenty minutes tops give or take."

Jacob can hear Leah calling out to Charlie, relaying the information to let him know they were on a time restraint.

"No problems bro," she laughs back, "they don't call me "the quickest gun in the north" for nothing."

"Are you ever going to give that up?" Seth grins as he notes down the path the helicopter is taking on a larger more detailed map that is laid out atop a huge glass table in the middle of the room.

With Seth and Leah both owning wireless versions of radios, Jacob watches Seth move around about the room freely, plotting courses while alternating and passing on information that is being filtering through the police channels.

"No one even calls you that," Seth scoffs playfully, "and more importantly, the last time you tried to fire a gun, you almost shot my ear off."

Jacob can't help but smile at the friendly banter in the room. He's decided to stay and wait for Leah to get back. He isn't ready to head to the hospital anyways and he had no real urgency to.

It is his first day off in a long time and he and Leah had been enjoying a nice lunch in town when her mobile buzzed and she'd dragged him out of the restaurant like it was on fire. She was passionate and loyal, not only in her life, but in her job as well. They both knew it was cutting into their 'us' time and even though he didn't mind, she apologised for 'fucking up' their lunch.

"If I am correct, it's you who is the idiot. Who the hell stands in front of a person loading a shot gun?" she quips back making Seth chuckle again.

"Whatever... I still maintain you 'aimed' it at me." Turning the signal of the radio a little higher Seth frowns.

"Leah – The ground search hasn't turned up anything on the eastern board of the camp. The kid must have wondered up the mountain." Seth explains as he glances at Jacob in warning.

"She'd be too small to get to any of the peaks," Leah replies shortly.

Covering her mouthpiece Leah shouts to Charlie, muffling the microphone but not blocking out the sound completely.

"Charlie takes us around the peak slowly. Circle back towards Marble Gully and make sure to get really low in between the chasm. Chances are she's there, deciding whether to cross or not."

Jacob feels his insides churn a little more. His mind propels back to the day Leah came home stomping her feet and slamming things. When he'd asked if she was okay she'd merely leant against the kitchen sink and sobbed.

After taking her in his arms and leading her to the bathroom were he bathed and washed her hair, she had explained what had happened.

A fifteen year old kid had fallen down the chasm as they attempted to get a harness around him. Leah had told him how she'd tried so desperately to keep his hand in her own as he slipped, but it was too late, and he was just too heavy. She told him that the boy looked straight at her, his fear crippling both him and her. Leah watched as he fell away from her into the darkness, before hearing the low sickening blow of his body hitting the rock below.

It had taken her three weeks for her to get back to work and she still often woke in the middle of the night crying from the night terrors and seeing his face when she closed her eyes.

Seth passes Jacob a head set and slumps back into his chair taking a deep breath. He'd been working for the last six hours and normally now, as it was supposed to wind down, he had a crisis on his hands.

Placing it on his head Jacob adjusts the mouthpiece accordingly. He thinks of many things to say but only one sentence comes out.

"Be careful babe," he whispers into the piece trying to down play his worry.

"I always am," she replies seriously, taking on Charlie's demeanour and remaining as calm as her step father.

Sitting back Leah braces herself on the side of the birds opening and peers down, sweeping her eyes carefully over the bright green of the wooded area beneath them. The land is a dangerous place if you have no bearing of this particular area. Growing up here has given her an intricate knowledge of the area and helps with knowing all the trouble spots and the trees amongst the traps.

A lot can happen out here to a person, whether it is by the weather alone or the wild animals amongst the area. Sightings of mountain lions were still unfounded as the rangers turned up nothing but Leah knew better. If it wasn't a mountain lion, there were definitely wolves circling in the area. As a little girl she'd seen them once only out of the corner of her eye but she knew they were there. This was their home and to disturb as such would be considered trespassing on their lands.

Flying as low as he possibly could Charlie makes sure to move back and forth in the air, slow enough for Leah to spot anything out of the ordinary but fast enough to cover miles of land before the storm descends upon them. Storms around here got big and they got big - _fast_. Everyone in the area knows that a storm's mercy was unforgiving and many families often lost loved ones if they were caught up in the mountains while the storms rage was poured out of the clouds.

Leah and Seth had lost their mother, Charlie's second wife, in a storm, and while not in the mountains, on a slippery road headed back from Seattle. Charlie had taken it upon himself to raise the two with all the love he could especially knowing that Sue would wanted him to have them as he had no other children.

"Charlie; bring her around three clicks. Seth, what colour was the girl wearing?" Leah yells into her mouthpiece, catching a glimpse of something colourful. She isn't sure of what she sees yet, especially with campers often leaving behind rubbish and sleeping bags.

"Purple parka and grey jeans," Seth replies back as his interest spikes. "What you got Lee?"

"And you said she had a dog with her? A chocolate coloured lab?"

In between the greenery Leah can see the animal barking excitedly as his eyes remained trained on them flying above him.

"Yeah, that's the description the father gave," her brother answers going back over the notes he'd taken when the call had come through for the missing girl.

"Jesus Christ, take us down, Charlie!" Leah's voice bellows, pointing down to the area she's spotted the colour in. Her heart is pounding and she is sure she can hear the beat of her own heart in her temples. The dog is circling around an area of shrouded trees and just peeking through she is sure she can see a slither of purple.

The shiny plastic purple of a puffy wind jacket.

"The rocks are too jagged, I can't angle the beast that low," Charlie bellows back, using the stick to try and keep a handle on the two tonne steel bird that remains animated in the air as if it is hanging on a singular rope.

"Fuck it. How in the fucking hell did she get there? Seth we've located the kid. She's on the face side of Marble Gully. Looks like she's injured or something. She's not moving."

"I'll call the ground team they can take it from here," Seth replies hastily moving behind Jacob to grab the phone.

"No."

"What the hell do you mean _no_?" Seth snaps back as he listens to the ring through the earpiece of the phone that is attempting to connect with the sheriff's satellite phone.

"What I mean is that the storm in coming on, it's almost night fall and the temps already dropping up here way below zero. By the time _they_ get here the kid might already be dead from hypothermia. We can't take that chance," Leah replies as she unclips her safety harness rope from the 'bird' and attaches it to the winch.

She's done this a hundred times before. Go down, snatch the girl, get her back to her parents, and go home to her husband.

"Leah, abseiling down to those rocks is dangerous enough, to get a fucking bird close enough to winch her up is fucking ridiculous. If she's injured how is she going to put the harness on?" Seth yells as he clicks the cordless phone off and pulls a hand through his hair. The sheriff isn't picking up and he worries about the angle on which his sister is going in on to make the rescue.

Looking at the bird's location on the monitor he slams his hand down on the bench, making the small screen flicker.

"I'm going down," her voice shoots out into his ears.

Before Seth has time to scold his sister, Jacob is already growling into his mouthpiece. "The Hell you are, Leah. Get back in the chopper. You shouldn't be doing this, not in your state." He can feel the bench top start to break under his grip and he has to breathe to remain calm.

"What are you both going on about?" Seth asks as he looks to Jacob with confusion written in his eyes. "You allowed yourself to go up there when there is something wrong with you?"

Jacob gives a small uncomfortable smirk and pats Seth on the shoulder. "There's nothing wrong. She's pregnant Seth. You're going to be an uncle."

Seth can feel the lump in his throat build and all he can manage is a sudden reaction.

"WHAT?" he screams into the mouthpiece wanting to strangle them both for being so stupid. In peak condition it was already a risk for her to be up there but now that she was - _pregnant _- it made it even more deadly. Seth wants to congratulate them but he is too angry to even see straight.

"Great Jacob, just great. Didn't we say we were going to keep it quiet for a while?" Leah chills rolling her eyes and she lays rope beside her knee before using a grappler's hook and securing it to the back of her harness.

"Yes but, Seth _deserved _to know-" Jacob counters, only to be cut off before he could say anymore.

"Leah, get your ass back in the chopper!" Seth yells demandingly at his sister like she is a child.

She can't help but smile thinking about how much Seth sounds like their dad who would scold them for eating all the peaches from the trees in the back yard before they were ripe. He would tell them they deserved all the punishment they got, as they held their bellies in pain from the churning the un-ripened peaches left in their stomachs.

"Shut up Seth, you are not my father _or _my husband!" Leah yells back, making him flinch and coil back a little.

"I'm your husband and you _still _don't listen to me!" Jacob growls and laid his head in his hands.

"Touché. Okay, listen guys. I have to try okay? What is that was someone we knew?" Softening her voice she speaks to her husband. "Jake what if that was _our _baby and we just left her here? What if she dies Jake, what if she doesn't make it? And I could have saved her." Jacob can hear the way her voice changes, the way she lets her words hang in the air. She is right. If that was their daughter Jacob would be out in the forest looking for her now. He would fight his way through the woods just to find her.

"Leah, you're not responsible for everyone," Jacob sighs feeling completely useless. He knows Leah, he knows how she feels, and he feels exactly the same way when he is with a patient that is sobbing in his arms. He feels the same way when he has to tell a mother or father that their child didn't make it through a surgery or as the result of an accident.

"I know. But I _feel_ responsible. It's not only my job Jacob, it's my life. This _is_ me. You know how I feel. You're a doctor, I do this. We are literally the same, 'cept I look sexier," Leah replies trying to lighten the mood. Jacob is always so worried about her and she loves that he is so protective of her. It is always the best feeling to come home to a man that holds her close and never wants her to leave.

"Ew." Seth moans at the declaration of love between them. "I'm gonna gag."

"Can't deny that one," Jacob chuckles, though finishes with a long shaky breath.

"Just – I need to get to her. If there is too much risk I'll pull out okay? Just let me try. I can't have another Riley," Leah begs, needing Jacob to understand.

They found out later that the boy's name was Riley. Fifteen years old and just starting his life, fifteen years old and he was dead. Leah couldn't look into the face of another parent and apologise for not being able to save them. Riley's parents had been so distraught, Leah found herself cradling her face after his mother had slapped her and told her that it was her fault her baby was dead. She couldn't go through that again. Not again.

"Fine. But I don't like this." Jacob whispers back to his wife.

"Charlie, get me a little closer, I am going to go down and see how close I can get."

Leah holds on to the sides of the chopper and turns, her back facing out into the cool air. Getting her bearings she counts to three holding on to the railings and slides down just a fraction so she can plant her feet against the rails under the chopper.

Leaning back she clips her front hook forward and holds the rope in her fingertips, while her other hand lets the slack of the steel cord fall down her back.

Holding it tightly in a fist behind her backside she pushes off the railing with her feet and let's herself zip down the cord. Angling herself through the treetops is harder than she expects and they scratch across the skin of her arms leaving small trickles of blood.

It hurts, only momentarily.

Finally her feet hit solid ground and she unclips herself from the rope. The plateau she's landed on is small and she can see the body of a shivering young girl pressing up against the rock face.

Glancing down she looks at the drop. It's a long way down and hopefully the trees roots around her have grown solidly into the side of the mountain face. She doesn't need the extra pressure of having the plateau crumbling underneath her.

Moving swiftly, she glances up and can see the chocolate coloured Labrador barking his head off showing his worry for his owner.

"Hey Lilly, I'm Leah. I've come to take you back to your mom and dad," Leah announces as she crouches down in front of the little girl and wipes her hair away from her face. She is shaking like a leaf and Leah can see blood smearing against the grey of her long jeans.

The little girl must have fallen down to the ledge below as she followed the dog, the trees hiding the drop well if one didn't know the area.

"I'm scared." Lilly replies, her golden hair matted and wet, sticking to her forehead. Her arms are wrapped around her leg and she holds it protectively.

HERE

"I know you are honey, we just need to get you into this harness." Leah replies, placing her bag down and tearing the other harness from the enclosure.

"My leg hurts." The little girl whimpers as Leah tries to slip the harness on carefully. She is thankful that the little girl is conscious and even though her leg is damaged, at least she hasn't fallen and injured her neck.

"I know sweetie, I just need to slip this on your hips. And then we can see your family." Pulling the harness further up, she looks at the little girl and sighs. "Place your hands around my neck and lift yourself. I'm sorry if it hurts."

Nodding the girl weaves her arms around Leah and tries to lean as much weight as possible on her instead of the leg.

"What about cookie?" Lilly whimpers, looking up at the ledge above them. The dog is whimpering and looking down at the both of them, letting out his tiny puppy cries.

"Who?" Leah asks pulling tightly at the harness flaps and making sure she is clipped in tightly.

"My puppy," Lilly points above them, letting out a few tears.

"Baby-" Leah sighs shaking her head at the little girl "Cookie has to stay _here_. The other people are on their way up now to take Cookie back, but I need you to come with me, now."

"I don't want to leave him." she cries, more little tiny tears falling down her cold red cheeks.

Leah pulls the little girl into a hug and pats her back. "I'm so sorry, but that's the way it has to be. I promise that nothing will happen to your puppy, okay? Charlie, lift us a little higher and start reeling the winch."

"Lee, I got bad news, the storm is coming faster than expected."

Leah hears Charlie reply into the headset as she feels large drops of rain hit her waterproof parka. Looking over her shoulder she scowls at the oncoming weather that is about to engulf them. The low crack of thunder resounds around them making the girl cling tighter to Leah and sob. It only takes a few seconds for the beat of the rain to turn from slow to ravenous.

"Shit, it's around us now. It's freezing," she shudders as the rain's intensity begins to beat down on the both of them. "Charlie, hurry up with the winch," she berates, clipping the two harnesses together and buckling herself into the grappler's hook on the line.

Only one of their harness hooks will fit in the loop and Leah always makes sure to put the heaviest person in first, that way the lighter weight is able to use the clip of the other persons harness to remain together and secure.

"Lee. Lee baby are you okay?" Jacob calls through the headset, as she feels her feet leave the edge and the chopper begin to pull up. She's tried her hardest to ignore his voice ringing in her ears and remains focused on the task at hand.

"It's cold," the girl moans, holding on to Leah's waist and digging her head into Leah's chest.

Suddenly Leah feels the little girl drop a few centimetres and her pulse soon spikes.

"I'm falling!" Lilly cries, trying desperately to cling to the material of Leah's jacket.

"Hang on Lilly. Charlie what the fuck, what's taking so long?"

"The winch isn't pulling up Lee. The rain is grinding on the steel and the winch won't take in the slack."

Before Leah can reply to Charlie she feels the girl slip down once again.

"Oh shit!" Leah yells, looking down between them and noticing the hook that is keeping Lilly tied to her was bending open and about ready to slip from her own harness.

With Leah tied in securely to the steel cord she has no problems but seeing the hook between them, she knows that if it were to snap the girl would fall to her death. Charlie had already taken them up and because of the weather there was no way he would be able to get them down to the plateau again.

"What's going on, what's the matter Leah?" Jacob calls again through the headset, his heart racing and his nerve endings frayed. She isn't answering him and he knows something is wrong.

"The fucking hook is breaking. What the fuck? Holy shit!" Leah screams in surprise as the metal of the hook twists and drops Lilly another couple of centimetres down her body.

By now the girl is crying and letting out heavy sobs, screaming that she doesn't want to die and she wants to see her mummy and daddy again.

"Our harnesses are too heavy. The weight is too much for the hook and it's fucking bending. Charlie, get me as close to the ground as you can, I am going to have to cut the bonds." Leah says quickly as she holds on to the steel cable and replaces her own harness hook with Lilly's.

The little girl is going to be okay, shaken up, but okay.

Looking down she measures the drop and while doubtful tries to remain hopeful. Her body has a much higher pain threshold and she knows the little girl would not survive the fall. She on the other hand, _might_.

"Leah! Leah, answer me!" Jacob demands as he slams his fist down on the bench. She can't do this, he needs her. He can't live without her.

"I can only get the chopper this low Leah. How far?" Charlie asks as he uses the stick to glide them as low as he can.

"Fifty feet. Give or take," she replies softly, still trying to hold most of her weight off the little girl. The moment she lets go of the cord in her hand and the hook takes the weight of her body; she knows it will spring open.

She wants to time her fall, wants to be ready. She wants to dictate her own ending if that is to come and not be taken by surprise.

Bending her foot up she pulls the small pocket knife from her ankle and flips it open, laying it against the lip of her harness.

"I'm so sorry baby," she whispers into the headpiece as she presses forcefully against the bonds keeping her there; ready to drag the blade across the material to set herself free.

She knows Jacob is listening and if she survives there will be Hell to pay. He'll make her quit her job and stay at home. He'll make sure she remains barefoot and pregnant so he knows she won't be in any danger except for maybe burning her finger on a pot.

She smiles to herself thinking how, if he were any other man, she would have divorced him quicker than she could call him an asshole.

But Jake - Jacob is - well - the love of her life and the only man she'll ever trust with her future.

"Don't you dare cut that rope Leah. You fucking hear me! Don't you cut it!" Jacob yells pulling on the ends on his hair and closing his eyes.

Deep down inside he already knows she's made the decision. Deep down inside he knows he's already lost her.

He feels his legs crumble out from beneath him and he wishes hard and with all his might that this is all just a bad fucking dream, that she isn't about to leave him, that her and the baby are going to land back on the roof top in 20 minutes and he would engulf her in his arms and sweep her off her feet.

"I love you Jake," she whispers as she tears the headpiece off her head and places it on Lilly's.

Closing her eyes she looks at the little girl and knows she had made the right choice.

"It's okay baby, don't blame yourself," she smiles kissing the girls forehead.

Letting her eyes turn to steel Leah pulls the blade against the material, _hard_.

"Leah nooooo!" Jacob chokes out as he grasps the front of his shirt and feels an emptiness move through him and hears nothing but the ringing of the little girls screams in his ears from the headset.

AN - Don't forget to check my girls. Kei Kat Jones and Cucumber07 are also wiriting to the same prompts. Join in if you want.

As Cu said in her post: 1. Must be Blackwater in some way or the other, and that doesn't mean they all have to be romantic or lemons or anything like that. Just Leah and Jacob in some shape. 2. Must be One shots. Length doesn't matter, just so long as it has a beginning and end. 3. Must relate to the letter's designated prompt in some way or the other. 4. Must be CREATIVE.

Come on. Don't be shy ;)


	4. D

AlphaBet(a)

...

D is for Dad

...

Sue smiled as Harry took the tubs of potato salad and coleslaw from her and held it into his side as he took her hand with the other. The mid-morning wind was soft and blew soundly around them, the path towards First Beach picnic area covered only by yellow leaves that crunched under their shoes as they walked.

Harry's hand was warm and calloused as Sue's sat snugly inside it. He'd always believed that you could tell a man's worth by the marks on his hands and the strength they perceived. His hands were scarred and scratched, his days as a labourer marking his skin in the most peculiar way. Slightly jagged scars from drills, smooth clean cuts from jigsaws, small specks of skin torn and healed leaving the calling card of his trade as a carpenter.

"Harry, you better be on your best behaviour today," Sue scolded playfully as she bumped into his side, bringing him back to the present to squeeze her hand reassuringly. "Leah wants you to meet Jacob and she also has a little surprise for you."

Harry cocked an eyebrow in his wife's direction, asking her silent questions, which she only answered with a smile. Shaking his head he merely raised her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Of course, dear. Though I don't know why my baby girl is introducing me to Jacob Black. I have known that boy longer than she's known him," he choked out with a hearty chuckle keeping his lips pressed to his wife's hand.

Jacob Black was the son of one of his long-time friends, his best friend. Both Billy and he had run the lines of LaPush as youngster's so many times they knew the way the winds blew on the eastern border, rough when angry and silently when calm. They knew that the rocks on First Beach were treacherous on a low tide and even on a high; only the locals could know how to dive into it. Billy and he had been on the same football team since 'tiny tackers' all the way through to high school.

"You're her father and she wants you to approve of him," Sue giggled as she tugged his hand back down so it was swinging between them. Letting the light laughter simmer down they let go of each other's hand's allowing Harry to wrap one tightly around her shoulders while hers fell to his waist.

"I'll never approve of any man. No one will ever be good enough for my baby," he sighed as Sue laid her cheek on his shoulder.

"She's happy with him, honey. And she's not exactly a baby anymore," Sue whispered back. "She loves him, and she really wants you to be okay with the relationship she has with him. You and I both know where your daughter gets her stubbornness from, so I want you to be sensitive today."

"The only place my baby girl gets her stubbornness from - is from _your _mother," Harry smiled sheepishly as Sue slapped against his forearm. "Plus she'll always be my little princess. The one that could kick any boy's ass and hike a football through the air like 'Golden' Joe Montana. She'll always be the little girl that dressed up like an astronaut on Halloween and beat Quil Ateara with her space helmet candy bag because he pointed out that monkeys had been to space but girls hadn't. She'll always be my baby Sue, whether she's three years old or thirty."

Sue laughed as Harry reminisced all the little things that Leah had done growing up. How she'd cut all her hair off to support Seth who had his head shaved at school by bullies. How she'd walked up to those same bullies and gave them a few choice words which left their mouths hanging open, earning her a two-week suspension. How she used to bring home injured animals home and let them sleep in a cardboard box next to her bed.

"That's very true honey, but you know how worried she gets. She never wants to be a disappointment in your eyes. Your approval means everything to her," Sue said quaintly as they broke into the grassed clearing ahead.

"I could never be disappointed love. Not ever." Harry whispered kissing his wife's temple and walking to the bench to set the containers down. Before he could step away from the bench two little arms reached around his calves and clung tightly, small whispers of giggles wafting to his ears.

"Grandpa help. Uncle Seth's trying to eat me," the voice giggled, moving swiftly around his legs and cowering under the wooden table. Crouching down he came face to face with a small child.

The little girl's hair was tied into piggy tails with bright yellow ribbons, her brown eyes light and playful, so full of life that it was hard to look away. The scar on her chin faintly visible as her lips turned up into a heartbreaking smile. Her shining eyes shot to the trees behind him and she had to stifle a laugh as she clamped her small hand over her mouth.

"Hey dad," Seth called out as he strode towards the bench, embracing his mother along the way and giving a 'man' hug to his father. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a little princess around here?" he exclaimed loud enough for the child to hear beneath the table. "Ribbons in her hair, sparkly green dress, and cute button nose – answers to the name of Layla?"

"Sorry son can't say I have," Harry grinned watching as Seth scratched the stubble on his chin.

His son had always been a natural with kids, perhaps due to the fact that Seth was an overgrown twelve year old stuck in the body of a twenty two year old man. He was glad that Seth could remain so untainted by the world. That his outlook on life was still that of the small boy he would teach to carve, the small boy that owned the life of the world in his eyes.

"Hmmm... I swear I saw her come this way," Seth replied deviously as he raised an eyebrow. "I guess I'll just go and check -" he mused looking around before swiftly crouching, "- under here."

His teeth flashed in the sunlight as Layla let out a high pitch squeal and crawled to the opposite end of the bench, dusting off her hands and running across the grass towards the beach.

Seth chuckled before he gangly jogged after her, allowing her space enough to believe she could ever escape her uncle. He would never let her out of his sight, he would always be one step behind her, much like he had been with his own sister, watching and anticipating her fall, ready to be the rock she needed. He would walk through life and be there for the little girl that brought light back into his sister's life, that made her shine again, that made her – _Leah_ – again.

Harry smiled as he wove his arms around his wife, watching as Seth ran down the path. Kissing the top of her head he closed his eyes and hummed into her hair.

Sue smiled as she held on to Harry's forearms as they rested against her stomach. "He's special that one," Harry whispered into her ear and he kissed her jaw lovingly. Even after twenty seven years of marriage the love between them was abundant, floating streams of devotion all around them. It hadn't mattered that the aches from the cold were starting to affect them, nor the difference the years made in the reflections of the mirrors.

"Special alright," Jacob snorted as he made his way to the table, carrying with him a casserole tray filled with fried chicken and a pink tote bag over his shoulder with sparkled butterflies attached.

"So says the gay cook," Leah scolded as she slapped the back of Jacob's head, juggling the tray of cupcakes in the bend of her elbows.

"Hey! The bag is Layla's," he frowned, pouting in her direction and giving her the sad puppy dog look. Leah couldn't help but grin at his upset face as she stopped and turned towards him taking in his demeanour. He knew she would always fall for his antics.

"What's the matter Black? Afraid I've let the cat out of the bag?" she teased as she dropped the tray down slightly to kiss his sad lip. His lips were warm and even though it had been short she still felt the electricity run through him into her, mimicking their first kiss.

"Not funny," he grumbled as he accepted the kiss as an apology.

"Hey Mrs. C," Jacob smiled brightly as he neared Leah's parents and placed the dish and bag down on the table.

Harry watched as his wife merely giggled and nodded, his eyes narrowing at the boy. He'd always been charming and he wondered if his own little girl had fallen in to his web. His bright smile, the way he held himself – much like the chief one day he would become with Billy's passing.

"Nice to see you again Jacob," Sue smiled as she elbowed Harry for the low rumble of a growl her husband was releasing from deep within his chest.

She could feel Harry's arms tense around her and she knew he was internally monologuing all the faults of the man standing in front of him. He was definitely right when he'd told her that no man would ever be good enough for his baby girl – not in his eyes – not ever.

Harry probably saw Jacob as another belt notch-er. Another deadbeat guy that couldn't even take care of his girlfriend or the little girl he'd decided to make with her. Another scared little boy pretending to be ready to give up the other women, the late nights, the boozy mornings. Another Samuel Uley.

"And it's always a pleasure to look upon the face of beautiful women other than the two I already have," he mused giving Sue a small wink in her direction.

Leah rolled her eyes but kept the smile upon her face once she heard the squealing laughter of her daughter as she sped along the grass followed closely by Seth who was pulling faces and snarling playfully at her, bounding like a large puppy.

"Jacob." Harry nodded only acknowledging the other male.

"Harry." Jacob mimicked the motion making sure not to piss off Harry Clearwater too much.

Jacob had always been fascinated by Harry Clearwater, and often as a boy wondered how a man so staunch and intimidating could have a wife that was not afraid of him, much less children with her. Harry was one of those adults where you didn't take their best hat and pour super glue in it. He was a man of few words, but words that were powerful and wise, wise beyond his years. Words that rolled off his tongue in the old language like a bass beating into the core of your body, not only making you listen, but making you _believe_.

Over the years Jacob realised that while Harry and his father were best friends, they were polar opposites. Where his father was playful with the children in LaPush, Harry was stern and in one word could make the kids stop what they were doing and run away in fear. Where his father was a joker and the life of the party, Harry mere sat on a log quietly, letting the strength of his aura shine through, making just as many sit in the sand and bask around him.

Much like a moth to a flame.

Harry Clearwater seemed much more suitable to represent his tribe over his own father but he knew that tribal law was rule. Only those born of the chief blood would grow to take the place – the rightful place - as head of the tribe.

Blood was thicker than water after all.

"Hey baby," Sue smiled reaching down to pick up her granddaughter by hoisting her on her hip and petting her face with tiny kisses.

"Nanna stop – _stop!_" Layla laughed trying to curl herself into a ball to stop the onslaught of love her grandmother was showering upon her.

Leah took the time to smile at her father, her eyes shifting from him to Jacob, trying to convince Harry to be a little nicer and to accept him. It could have been classed as a look of despair but Harry knew that look. He sighed quietly and bowed his head to his daughter, ruffling his hand through his hair and trying to pull something from inside, to find the heart to reach out to the man that his only daughter loved.

After eating their fill of the gathered foods Leah snuck away from the table where Jacob and Seth were arguing about the odds of the 'Redskins' winning the play offs and her mother was excitedly entertaining Layla; the little girl smeared in chocolate from her chin across to her cheeks from the cupcakes she'd eaten. She couldn't help but shake her head at her mother trying to convince Layla that she needed to eat more fruit and vegetables instead of overindulging on sweets and cupcakes. Leah could never find it in her heart to deny her daughter anything – within reason.

Walking up to her father who was standing at the line where the grass met the sand, she silently stood beside him, mimicking his pose and looking out into the ocean to watch the waves roll against the shore and break softly.

"You okay daddy?" Leah asked in a small voice not wanting to break the calm flush of the silence. The autumn day was nice and the swell of the ocean engulfed their senses for a second time.

"You remember the story of the Chief and the great whale?" Harry asked, his eyes still trained on the ocean. "I told it to you once, when you were a little girl."

"Of course," she smiled folding her arms across her chest and giving only a quick glance back to the table. Thinking back Leah allowed her memories to cascade through her mind, hearing only the voice of her father in her ears.

It had been a cold night as they sat on the sand, the fire wood popping and hissing from the bonfires heat and flames. Leah had been fifteen years old, still a girl in many aspects but a woman in the eyes of her tribe. A beautiful, strong, intelligent woman that would one day take the place of a wife and mother for one very lucky Quileute man if she so desired.

Her father hoped that she would marry a good man, one that provided everything she needed, that would comfort her when she cried, encouraged her when she didn't succeed; loved her even when she couldn't find a reason to love herself.

"Tell it to me again," her voice was light and memorable as she wove her arm through her father's and leaned her head on his shoulder, the shoulders that bore both great happiness and great sadness.

_'As a boy Taha Aki worked with his uncles and the men in his tribe as a fisherman. He'd work long and hard, catching and gathering fish for the rest of the tribe to keep his father's people strong. One particular morning when he'd gone out into the ocean alone, a large storm suddenly engulfed him, rocking the small boat dangerously while waves crashed against the sides. Taha Aki prayed to his ancestors of the Great Ocean and Great Sky in which the storm dwelled._

_He'd ask them to save him, to allow him to reach shore with his life intact, promising to give them anything in return. He was merely a boy, he'd not fallen in love, he'd not travelled the lands, and he'd not even taken his spiritual quest. He pleaded with our ancestors and within moments the sea settled and a pod of whales floated toward him, echoing calls deep under the water._

_As he caught his breath, Taha Aki heard one of the whales, the biggest whale of the pod, speak to him. The great whale told Taha Aki that the ancestors had spared his life in lieu of one gift to them – the gift of marrying a woman who was of their choosing. He agreed instantly, but asked - "How will I know this woman?" The great whale answered with a spray of water. "You will know it is her. We will visit you again and when you find her you will stand upon the beach and we will sing her praise, this great woman."_

Leah chuckled into the sleeve of Harry's shirt, grinning against his arm. "You don't really believe that do you?" she asked playfully, tightening her grip on his arm.

Harry let out a low chuckle of his own as her head rose and her face lit up to greet him. "I guess you're just too old for bonfire fire stories," he sighed, pulling her head forward and kissing her forehead.

Leah hummed out a satisfied breath as she gave her father a warm embrace before letting him go again. "Well I am grown now daddy," she smirked, glancing back at Jacob who was meandering over with a sleeping Layla in his arms. Sue and Seth were laughing as they packed away the remnants for the nice lunch they'd enjoyed and her mother was slapping Seth's hand away, which refused to ignore the last lonely cupcake on the tray.

"Or so you think," her father glanced out to the ocean, his form becoming a little tense as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Lee-" Jacob whispered, trying not to wake the little girl who was nestled into his chest, her tiny arms resting around his neck. "- I'm just going to take her to the car. We'll wait for you there."

"Let me take her Jake," Leah offered, placing her hands under the little girl's arms and picking her up off her resting place on Jacob.

Before Jacob could say no, Layla was wrapped up in Leah, her face snuggling against her mother's neck and sighing happily.

"Daddy wants to talk with you," Leah offered condolences to him in the form of a smile and kissed him briefly. "_We'll _wait in the car for you."

Jacob was left standing next to Harry Clearwater and for the life of him had no idea how to begin a conversation with him. Of course Harry knew that he and Leah had been together just over a year, but the old man was so reserved and so down right intimidating to wasn't even sure her father acknowledged him. "You wanted to speak with me sir?" Jacob asked timidly, trying to cough out the dry lump that had formed in his throat.

"I have three rules Black. Three rules. Break any of them and I will break you." Harry voice was calm and collected, taking on a much more serial killer like tone than ever before.

"Of course sir." Jacob nodded back trying not to wet his pants or stutter or just plain embarrass himself. Harry Clearwater - while old - had at least fifty pounds on him, and while Jacob had a height advantage he knew he would never be able to hit Leah's father - even in self-defence.

Out of all the things he could possibly do, to retaliate against a Clearwater would be his ultimate undoing. They were fast like cobras and while their bark was impressive, their bite was just as lethal.

He'd found out the hard way when he'd gone to lunch with a work friend who happened to be female. He hadn't been the least bit interested in her, only trying to comfort a friend. Word quickly spread and before he could even defend himself Leah walked into his garage and punched him dead in the nose, leaving him with a bloody nose and a black eye for almost a week.

He'd tried to beg his way into the house, and even managed to kick down the screen door before he found her crying on the floor in the kitchen, her back against the stove. He didn't know what to do, what to say, so he just took off his shoes and pulled her towards him, hugging her on the tiled floor. After close to twenty minutes of sobbing and sniffling, Leah explained that Sam had done the same thing with her cousin. They had lunch, fell in love and left the very next week. Jacob felt his heart shatter in two, making it seem like it was going to be dejavu for her again.

He knew he could never hurt her the way Sam had. And it wasn't guilt that made him stay, but love. While she was fiery and bitchy, she was also attentive and affectionate. She would scold him for falling off his motorbike when he and his cousin Quil would go cross country, earning him a few slaps to the head. But when the fighting was over, it was Leah who drew a hot bowl of soapy water and cleaned his cuts, washed his dirty leaf and mud filled hair, and kissed it all better.

"As you know-" Harry began, causing Jacob to raise an eyebrow and pay attention to the older male. "-Leah is my only daughter, and while you see her as a woman, she is still _my _little girl. Hurt her, make her feel inadequate and most of all lie to her... The Black legacy will end with you. Do I make myself clear?"

"_Crystal,_" Jacob stuttered out as he scratched the back his neck, giving his hand something to do instead of twitch with nerves.

"So you asked her to marry you?" the deep rumble in Harry's voice was so full of authority.

"She told you." Jacob said, not a question but more of a statement.

Harry chuckled and turned his head enough to glance at the man next to him. Sure the boy was sometimes clueless, but he meant well. Holding out a hand, Harry shook Jacob's firmly, taking the quick chance to study it.

Jacob's hands almost mimicked those of his own. Strong, extremely large, rough, jagged scars and tiny nicks all over them. Leah's father was impressed that a man as young as Jacob could have hands of a hard worker, a labourer, and a man who kept his household together by not only financially providing for his family but making sure the tin that was pulled over their heads would not become rusted or damaged.

"She didn't need to tell me," Harry smiled, letting Jacob's hand go and dropping it down on to his shoulder. "Congratulations are in order Jacob. I'm grateful that my daughter is happy, and if she is that way with you, who I am to deny her such a life?"

Patting Jacob's shoulder briefly, he glanced out one more time into the ocean, noticing the spray of a whale's air passage shoot up not too far from the shore. He'd noticed them earlier while he and Leah had been talking but decided not to alert her too much.

"Wow," Jacob gasped looking out into the ocean, noticing a pod of whales swimming in the shallow water near the beach. "That's amazing."

Harry let his hand drop from the boys shoulder as he turned from the beach to walk back to his wife. Sue had helped Leah pack the smaller things into the car, while Seth threw the drink cooler into the back of his truck.

Sue frowned as Harry walked towards her, a satisfied smile on her husband's face. "You threatened him, didn't you?" Sue scolded as Harry wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"You'd think so low of me?" Harry whispered, kissing his wife on the neck discreetly.

"Ha, ha Mr. Clearwater. I know you too well. You definitely scared him somehow." His wife responded bluntly, poking into his side.

Sighing, Harry kissed his wife tenderly while resting a hand on her hip. Pulling away he smiled knowing that his wife was still smitten and still in love with him, as much as he was with her.

"Is it not a father's job? I expect Jacob to do the same thing for Layla when she's older. There's just something about the bond a father has with his daughter. Something more than words, more than tears and more than embraces. Fathers are prepared to shoulder the world for his daughter, no questions asked, no asking needed - before he would _ever - _let it hurt her."

"You're just a big teddy bear," Sue laughed as she stood on her tippy toes to kiss her husband. "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul," she winked as they walked hand in hand back toward the path.

AN - This is one of my favourite one shots that I have ever written. I don't know why. It just kind of feels canon in some way. Like, had there been no shapeshifters and no vampires, that maybe Jake and Leah's lives would have turned out like this. *sigh* If only.


	5. E

AlphaBet(a)

_..._

E is for Evil

...

Running down the marbled passage, her claws scrapped and screeched against the cool floors, small cracks forming under the tremendous weight of her wolf. Her heart was beating fast and the step in her swift movements almost synchronized with the sound, echoing a fast heavy beat in her ears.

The passages all looked the same as she ran them, each corridor lined with paintings of great masters that had come before them, each generation of 'sire' watching as she bounded towards the light tapping sound of the vampire that was trying to escape her clutches.

She loved this part - she always had. The chase far outweighing the goal.

The scared whimpers that reached her ears made her tongue loll and her giant wolf snout gleam with excitement. The fear was thick in the air; its potency exciting the deepest realm of her wolf – the primal side of her beast.

This is what she was made for, what her destiny was - to destroy those that disobeyed, to punish and make right the mistakes for those who did not follow the laws given out over the lands.

Circling back on her strides she pressed her nose against the floor and inhaled the trail that was being left behind in the blood drinker's wake. It was so strong – the metallic sting of freshly drawn blood, the odour of decaying bodies, even the small hairs fallen from _its_ body, to the white of the marble ground beneath her.

To track the dead was an easy feat, its festering stench marking each inch of the surrounding area, its poison; staining the air.

Her ears twitched as the sound of movement resounded behind her, her giant frame spinning quickly, allowing her to bare her teeth toward the leech.

His blood red eyes looked back at her with an unsure fear, a fear of the unknown. Leah was impressed with the bloodsucker. While normally they all choose to run, this one had decided against it after realising that there was no escape from Volterra.

She knew he had never seen one like her.

The werewolves were a dying breed and it was an honour to meet one when the moon was full and the dusty lands still. Their howls pierced the sky's, reaching even her ears as she sat atop the roof and answered their calls - luring them to her. While they changed with the moon, her change was much different. By will and by choice she could compel her wolf forward and transform at the blink of an eye. Werewolf she was not; Shape-shifter is what they knew her by.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she lurched forward, watching as the vampire crouched low in a defensive position to try and stop her on coming movements. His dark hair, which was bound in a band, fell in front of his shoulder, while his white teeth glimmered from the sunlight streaming in from the pyro flex windows. Windows impenetrable to breaking. Even with vampire strength.

Dropping her hind legs much lower than her front, she didn't give him time to think, dropping her snout to his neck and tearing the skin open. The monster's screams could be heard – no doubt – all over the castle, and she relished in the grand welcoming Aro would give her in the hall. Her master would congratulate her on another great kill and he would reward her with that which her heart desired most.

Once the wound to the neck had been inflicted, the vampire was easy to destroy. Soon screams were replaced with low whimpers and the sound of her sharp jaws ripping and her jagged claws tearing against the rock solid body beneath her.

She didn't stop until the body was maimed and broken, unrecognisable to anyone, even those who loved the vampire most. She silently congratulated herself for the amount of violence she'd put into disposing of the vampire who had been warned before by Aro himself. His step out of line had cost him his undead life.

And rules were rules.

Aro was not one to back out of his endeavours once he thought of them. The idea or plan would itch inside him until it burst to the surface and he had no choice but to put it into effect. He was once a sloppy ruler, his rules only extending to those who listened, but _now_ – now that the world was changed, he too changed.

The world had slowly disintegrated into a lifeless wasteland. Cities crumbled. The sun barely shone creating an almost endless night, trees and plants long becoming but a myth. She hadn't seen a flower on the outside for almost fifteen years, not any trees from her childhood, not one single free flowing river. It was all gone. Dead.

Only in the walls of the city could such a sight be seen. Nature no longer belonged to man, but to monster.

Humans, Vampires and Werewolves had long since waged war on each other. Wars which burnt villages and towns into piles of soot and ash. All species took heavy blows to their numbers, each losing much of what centuries took to build. Human and werewolf families were either killed or harvested as food leaving nothing but the sounds of screams in the night.

Nowadays, there was no such thing as power shifts, for Aro was the most powerful among all of them. Leader of the world in which forests burned and people were no longer free.

His armies were impenetrable, strong and could be spawned within days. Free humans had become a dwindling race, while the thousands that were captured, were kept in 'Food Farms' as a never-ending source to feed the armies of newborns. They were drained to within an inch of their lives and left for their blood to regenerate itself, their bodies replenishing with new blood. Within days, they were ready to be drained again and so ensued a cycle. A never ending cycle that would keep Volterra strong and the masses of undead fed.

Busting through the doors and into the great hall, Leah shimmied from her wolf form and strode as naked as the day she was born through the parting sea of foul smelling monsters.

Her legs took long strides, the muscles under her flesh flexing and moving, allowing her body to show strength even in the less intimidating form.

The masses dressed in red cloaks bowed as she walked, acknowledging her place alongside their master. While she had been born their mortal enemy, her undivided loyalty to the throne could not be ignored.

Aro stood at the end of the space, the wicked smirk on his lips ever present and his hands holding out the edges of a long green silk robe for her to slip into. "Another victory is at hand. Your abilities grow stronger every day."

Smiling, Leah stopped in front of her King, giving him a nice view as she turned her back towards him and allowed him to slip on her robe. The silk brushed her skin and her nipples tightened as his cold arms wrapped their way around her waist to tie to silk together.

"Such a beautiful creature," he whispered, ignoring the masses of vampires and focusing only on her. "Such destruction you are able to cast down upon the unworthy."

His ice-cold hands brushed over the silk of her stomach and made their way to her chest, cupping her in his palms. His forked tongue sent shivers down her spine as he spoke lowly into her ear.

"A fine general you will make one day. A general in the greatest army this world has ever seen."

The lips that pressed against her neck made her shiver with delight as his thumbs pressed into her chest and his groin slithered against her behind.

"My prize," she gasped as he pushed his hips into her, showing her how much he wanted her, praised her, and loved her. "I want it – _now._"

Licking her neck softly Aro chuckled as he pulled himself away. "Of course my dear, a promise is a promise after all."

With a motion of his hand, Demetri and Felix dragged forth a figure draped in black cloth. The man's robe was long and his form promising, underneath all the material. Leah was excited to see him struggle against the heavy chains on his wrists as Demetri dragged him forward. She could hear his deep breathing, the air blowing from him as if he was still in his wolf form.

Her body buzzed with lust as Felix landed a blow to the back of his legs, sending him with a grunt to his knees. His head hung low and the chains remained in Demetri's hands as Leah stepped forward.

Looking back at Aro, he nodded to her, giving her silent approval to unwrap her prize.

"He smells wonderful," she mused as she slid her small hands under the hood and peeled it back gently to let the material pool around his neck. Her eyes widened as she took him in.

His lips were made of heavenly pillows, his eyes deep set and bathed in a beautiful brown though downcast. His jaw was clenched tight and his high cheekbones made him breathtakingly beautiful. His eyelashes mimicked her own as they brushed along his cheeks and she could see the slither of hard male chest from a crack in his robe.

"I love it," she beamed as she raised his chin up to look over him. Sighing she ran her thumbs along his closed eyelids and shivered. She had been waiting for this moment. For him to come.

Aro had promised her a mate, a strong healthy mate that could live with her in her quarters and make love to her every night. Images of her and the man ran like clockwork through her mind. The pictures of him over her, him finding his space inside of her, them wrapped up so tightly they were no longer two beings but one.

With a growl Jacob bared his teeth at her actions, wanting to kill her for touching him so intimately.

He had been taken from his camp in the middle of the night, captured by vampires and brought to their nest. He wondered why she smelt like he did and wondered if this vampire, who he still hadn't set his eyes on, could mimic scents. He had heard of rouge wolves that had changed sides, left their brothers to fight with the enemy - but he had never known a female to exist.

Not anymore.

There had only ever been one born. The one that was supposed to be his mate, the one that was born specifically for him.

Eighty years he had thought about that night, remembered it like it was yesterday. Remembered how the armies took her from her crib as a child, killed her family and then killed her. He remember finding his soul mates blood all over the baby blanket her mother had woven for her. How the tiny white teddy bear he had given her had been stained with the blood of innocence. The blood of his one true love.

Not even after eighty years could he forget the way the sun rose red that morning, how the women of the village wailed into the morning sky as he sat defeated on the steps of the home she had been kept in. He didn't even have a body to mourn over, as they'd decided to take that away from him also.

He was left with nothing.

"Look at me," she whispered, kneeling in front of the man and running her hands down his cheeks. "Let me see your eyes. Let me see your soul."

"No," he snapped, shaking his head to dislodge her hands from his face.

By instinct Felix came forward and picked him up by the throat and squeezed down on his windpipe. "Open your fucking eyes mutt. You will listen to our _queen,"_ the vampire hissed, making his whole form shake.

Hearing the word 'queen', he knew she was one of them.

"I said Open. Your. Eyes."

Landing a blow to the shifters face, Felix stepped back and made sure his boot connected with the man's chest as he fell to the ground.

Running back toward Aro, Leah pleaded, holding his hands in her own and pressing his palms to her face. "Stop him Aro - _please_. Tell him."

"Felix enough," Aro smiled, leaning down to kiss her heated forehead. "Take him to his newly acquired quarters. Have him ready for my queen. She has _much _to show him."

Kissing Aro's lips softly she gleamed up at him and thanked him profusely. While she had tried to take Aro as a mate, they both soon realised that she needed one of her own kind to breed. The seed of her vampire lover once spilled inside her was soon destroyed by her own genetics. Living as his lover for twenty years they had tried everything. Every vampire doctor had confirmed what they both believed.

Kissing her husband again she made sure to draw out the kiss, showing him just how much she loved her new play toy. "I love you my King," she whispered, biting down on his bottom lip, making him hiss in her mouth.

"And I, you," he breathed, running his hands down the length of her neck to feel the hard pulse beneath her flesh.

...

Jacob struggled with his chains as he lay on the giant bed. He had been bathed in oils before being chained to the high bedposts that surround the bed, which hung from it, sheer maroon curtains to give the illusion of romance.

The room was exquisite and somehow it did not reek of death like the other areas of the nest did. It was clean; antique furniture scattering the room, making it look more homely than a dungeon, though he knew that is exactly what the room was.

The guards had told him to get used to it as they stripped him down and tied him to the bed. They had told him that the only way he was allowed to live was if he did everything the queen wanted. He knew once they chained him to the bed, he wasn't merely going to be a slave - but a sex slave. Enslaved to do the bidding of an evil succubus who would eventually rip the soul from his body and drown him in a cesspool of hate.

She would use him until he was spent, clean him and then no doubt use him again.

He growled as he pulled against the chains, trying to draw his huge arms together to somehow break free and escape the prison he found himself in.

But it was no use. Even with his strength of an Alpha could he not break the bonds that chained him to a fate worse than death.

Hearing the keys to the room jiggle he glared at the doorway, awaiting the ugly pale leech woman who would walk through the thick wooden mahogany doors. Moving the sheet with his foot he tried to pull it across his body to give him at least some modesty. He wasn't ashamed of his body but he was definitely not comfortable with having Aro's wife stare at him like he was a piece of meat.

He watched as a bronzed woman slipped through the door and tightly locked the dead bolt. Closing his eyes he blew out a shaky breath and let them flutter open.

His breathe caught in his throat as she looked over him appreciatively. His mind turned to mush as he gazed at her dressed in the full-length green silk. Her long black hair cascaded over her shoulders, falling down much of her back. Her lips were set in a grin and her eyelashes swooped along her cheeks.

"Hello. My name is-"

"Leah?" he breathed, finally finding the name he had long tucked away inside his heart.

Her eyes were still the same as they had been when she was a child. He remembered those eyes. He couldn't forget such eyes. Within the blink of a second it was like his whole life made sense again, like the whole eighty years he'd mourned for her suddenly slipped from his mind. She was here, she was alive, and she was gorgeous.

"Yes," she quirked, cocking her head to the side and placing the key down on the small side table next to the bed. "You know me?" she quizzed as she stepped forward and brushed the hair from his eyes.

"I did - I mean, I _do_, know you," he replied as his eyes racked up and down her body, taking in her tight silk covered nipples and her long legs which the material seemed to dip in between. As a child he loved her more than life itself, but as a woman - he could think of nothing more than kissing her lips and sliding inside her.

"Really? Have we met somewhere?" He didn't have time to reply as she crawled over the bed and sat on his hips, only the thin sheet of cotton and her silk robe keeping their flesh apart.

"A long time ago," Jacob groaned as she ground against him and ran her hands up and down his chest.

"You are very handsome. What is your name?" she breathed, feeling his cock press into her, his excitement evident in between his legs.

"Jacob. Jacob Black. You don't remember me?" he moaned, feeling her lips come down to place a small kiss on his chest.

"No. But I am sure I will," she smiled, letting her tongue flick out and slice across the small sensitive nub.

"You're very excited," she whispered as she nibbled her way up to his collarbone, grinding her hips down against his with a purpose.

"And you're very beautiful. I am sure you have this reaction often."

"Not as often as you would believe," she grinned sitting back and slowly letting the robe drop from her shoulders.

He couldn't help but buck up into her as he watched the material slide over her golden olive skin and pool at her hips. Her breasts were perfect. Not too small, and not too big. Enough for his hands - had they been unbound - to cup and massage.

"Holy shit," he gasped, watching as she ran her hands down her chest and her fingers tweaked her nipples.

"You like what you see?" she questioned as she thumbed her breasts, torturing him to watch her touch herself.

"Yes." He hissed, bucking up again to feel the heat between her thighs.

Leah moaned at the sensation of the heat beneath his blanket and lent down to kiss his cheek. "If I undo your cuffs, do you promise not to leave?"

Jacob nodded his head, knowing it was the truth. Now that he found her, he could never leave this place. And the only way he would, was to be if she left alongside him. "I promise," he choked out as her breast mashed against his hard chest in an attempt to reach the key.

Her scent was so powerful as it wafted through his nostrils and into his veins. She was like a dewy morning, like the spring that used to come when his people still lived in forest villages. Her arousal was making him gasp - choke for air from its potency. But it was the scent of her skin that stood out over everything. That earthy, forestry smell that made his heart ache. It ached for a time not like the one they found themselves in. A time where freedom was a given, not a privilege. It ached for all those who lost loved ones, who lost brothers, fathers, and sisters. But it ached mostly for her.

"Tell me Jacob Black," she smiled as she leaned forward to slip the key into the lock on his left wrist. "Are there more like you? More shape shifters?"

The way her voice melted into him made him feel euphoric and not even if someone had a knife to his father's throat could he deny her an answer.

"Yeah," he nodded, licking his bottom lip slowly as she hovered over him.

"And are they all like you? Or do you all look different?" The gleam in her eye was genuine as she asked. She'd not known her people; she'd not grown up under the same traditions and beliefs he had. It was evident; otherwise she would not have taken Aro to her bed. "Keep your hands where they lay," she smiled as the first cuff slipped off.

Leaning to undo the other cuff, Jacob couldn't help but bring his hand down to grasp her ass. The soft pillowy skin kneaded perfectly in his large palm and even though he knew she'd given him a command, how could he not touch her? The muffled sound she breathed out and the way she pressed her self back into his hand, made him almost stop breathing.

"Hurry up," he urged, moving his hand to grab the back of her neck, thumbing the skin, counting down the seconds for his cuff to slip so he could kiss her.

"I'm trying," she replied in an agitated state, her lust making her head drown.

She could barely keep her fingers from shaking and both the chain and key trembled within them. The action of him jerking up into her was sending her over the edge and she was sure the guards outside would not be impressed to hear such noises.

Jacob stared at her, running his fingers through her hair while his thumb stroked her cheek. She was flushing, obviously frustrated with the chain. He couldn't help but growl when she gave an excited squeak and watched the chain slip from his wrist.

Taking her face fully in his hand's Jacob kissed her hard. It was wet, full of teeth, lips and tongue but both still moaned into it, feeling as though they'd finally tasted that part of heaven they had both tried desperately to reach.

Pushing against Jacob's chest, Leah leaned back and took a deep shaky breath, her eyelids hooded as her lips swelled from his forcefulness - _their _forcefulness. His hands had already found her hips, tugging the green silk away so he could get a look at the rest of her. Quickly snatching his wrists in her hands to stop him, she smirked.

Pulling again at the slinky folds of silk, Jacob growled at Leah's playfulness and was only seconds away from ripping the silk into tiny shreds - to destroy it forever.

Her lips pushed up into a smile and her tongue rubbed against her bottom lip seductively. "You know-" she began, by raising and eyebrow and pressing her index finger against his lips. "No one is allowed to kiss me like that - no one but my husband."

Her voice was soft and harmonious as she grazed her finger over the shape of his lips down to the boyish dimple in his chin. "But perhaps, we could make an exception." Her lips slowly made their way to his and she kissed him lightly, as if teasing him with a feather.

"Well they are pretty good lips," he replied smugly as he pulled the small of her back down so she lay perfectly on top of him, her legs wide and running length wise against his.

"I agree," Leah chuckled, kissing his top lip between her own, before biting down and making him hiss from the sudden pain. "But you are also very cocky."

Jacob shivered as she slid down his body, her exposed breasts rubbing their way down until he could barely reach her. He couldn't help but writher as she kissed parts of him no woman had touched in twenty years. His chest, the lines that ran down his body, his hip bone. He groaned and bucked up as her hand slid under the sheet and stroked him. The small hums of satisfaction that were leaving her throat were driving him wild.

"You're so hot. Nothing like Aro," she sighed as her nimble fingers wrapped around his shaft, the sheet still covering that which she desired most.

"Fuck." Jacob choked, as Leah's lips licked the head of his cock through the sheet, teasing and tormenting him. "Please don't," he asked kindly, wrapping his hands in her hair. "I want you up here."

Leah pouted as Jacob pulled her towards him by her upper arms. "That's not fair. You smell so good. I want to taste you."

"Trust me, the feeling is mutual."

Sitting up, he pulled her so she was sitting back over him, her legs wrapped loosely around him, her breasts touching his hard chest.

Time seemed to slow down; each touch became softer, smoother. Theirs breathes were shaky and their hearts continued to beat wildly in their chests. They sat staring at one another, just taking in each other, their eyes trying to memorise every pattern of skin, every dip, and every piece of unnatural perfection.

Leah's fingertips danced on his neck, while his stroked her ribs. "You look at me strangely," she smiled.

"_How _do you want me to look at you?"

"I don't know-" Her breathe hitched as the back of his hand stroked her stomach. "- but you look at me like I _mean _something to you." She groaned feeling the wetness pooling inside as his thumb rubbed against her inner thigh.

"What if you did - _mean _something to me?" he breathed as his lips came down against hers only briefly as his thumb worked against the wetness of her folds. She was so hot and wet, ready for him to take back what was his. Make love to her, as he should have, as the universe intended. "What if _you _meant _everything_ - to _me?_"

"Don't tease me," she gasped as his pointer and middle finger slid inside her heat, easily finding its mark. His fingers were thick and with the two of them pressed together she had to close her eyes and concentrate.

Wanting to inflict some of the same glorious pain on Jacob, she pushed aside the blanket and took hold of him, trying to find the same rhythm he was creating for her.

He was so hard, hot and throbbing in her hands and she felt like, somehow, somewhere deep inside, that this was meant to happen.

She was afraid he would never fit inside her, the girth of his cock so wide, that she would be completely stretched and full from his amazing size. His forehead was pressed into her shoulder, his panting breath sending heat down to her nipples and keeping the buds erect.

"You're so small," Jacob whispered pushing his fingers in once more and curling the tips to make her legs instantly tighten around him.

His cock hadn't faired much different as she squeezed down hard making him gasp and bite down on her heated flesh.

"Shit Leah... too hard," he coiled back, snatching her wrist in his hand.

"Sorry?" she smirked, squeezing down again making him groan.

"Oh, you're bad."

His kisses trailed her shoulder, upward to her neck, enticing the sensitive skin behind her ear. "Such a bad, bad girl," he cooed, increasing the movement of his fingers inside of her. She was wet, dripping and ready for him to take her and make her forget about that filthy leech she'd married - the leech she loved.

"I need you Jacob Black. I need you inside of me," she moaned as she tilted her head back for him to lavish her neck with his teeth.

"Jesus -" Jacob growled, pulling his arousal covered fingers from her and coating his throbbing member in her juices. Placing a hand on the small of her back, he lifted his knees a little, in turn widening her. "I need you too. More than you'll ever know. More than anyone."

She shivered as he used the head of his cock to run up and down her slit, mixing her arousal and his pre-cum together to create their own scent. Each time his tip touch her sensitive clit she whimpered, its movements driving her wild and making her insatiably hot. Placing her arms around his neck, she watched as he pressed his thumb against his tip, angling it down to find her heat.

"Fuck me. Please. Be my mate," she cried out as her nails dug into the flesh of her shoulder blades.

Licking his lip and angling intently lower, Jacob swirled his cock head one more time before pushing in, sheathing his cock fully inside of her. Her walls of silk squeezed down on him as she gasped and held her eyes tightly shut, freezing in his arms.

"You're so much bigger," Leah winced, as he slowly lifted her ass off him and then began to slide back in.

"And you're so tight, so wet. Fuck it - I'm dying." He hissed as his hips rocked upward, his cock like a man lost in the desert searching for water.

"Don't die - not yet," she gasped, starting to pick up a more independent rhythm without having to rely on him to lift her.

Her legs were buzzing from the position, and the sheer heat of his body was making her clit ache. As if reading her mind his fingers fondled her briefly before his thumb rubbed fast circles around the over sensitive, swollen nub.

With her breasts bouncing and her hips rocking him, he couldn't help but cup one of her pert breast in his hands, squeezing it and pushing her nipple into his wanting mouth. The clear sheen of sweat on her body made her taste salty but Jacob didn't care.

Ribbing his tongue around her nipple and biting it with force, he smiled as she screamed out, her neck arching backward and her back bowing like she was a beautiful cello and he was the musician. Mastering her body, playing her perfectly. Her walls clamped down so tight he felt like she was strangling all the air out of his lungs.

He hadn't anticipated the force with which her pussy slammed down on him, quivering around him and squeezing down. One more thrust and he was lost. His back tensed and his hips shot up, spilling thick ropes of seed inside her. One shot after the other, his cum flowed right into her, her pussy throbbing from the orgasm that had ripped through her, and milking his soul from him. The guttural groan which escaped his lips was swallowed by Leah's lips as she kissed him deeply, her hands holding his jaw, begging him forward.

Breaking away, she pressed her forehead against his and tried to catch her breath. Her eyes lingered in between their bodies that were still connected. Moaning, she tightened her legs around his waist and closed her eyes. She could feel him growing again inside of her, so soon after just finishing.

She thanked her husband silently in her mind as Jacob ran his fingers lazily over her neck. "You okay?" he asked timidly allowing only one hand to rest on her thigh.

"Of course," she replied shakily, biting down on her lip.

Her mate was strong, stronger than any other man or vampire she'd had before. His stamina was off the charts and mimicked that of a wild animal. A beast.

"Sorry," he grinned lazily, rubbing the skin across her shoulder blades.

Leah frowned a little and shifted causing them both to groan. "Why?" she asked breathlessly, feeling his cock twitch and harden even more inside of her.

"It's been a while in between drinks if you know what I mean. I really tried to hold back but - you're so goddamn tight," he whispered as he grabbed hold of her hips which were beginning to rotate against him. He needed at least another minute to regain his bearings back.

Leah could see his discomfort and pouted, but never the less kissed his neck. "Would you like something to drink?" she asked in a hopeful tone.

"No, no - it's just -" Jacob was about to tell her that he couldn't stay, that she needed to come with him, that she was his mate, the only female shifter born for the right of the Alpha.

But he couldn't. He couldn't bear to think of the answer she would give if he asked her to leave with him. Leave the only life she'd ever known. To leave her husband, her kingdom.

Would she? Could she?

"Are you alright?" Leah asked, concern evident in her voice.

Her hands brushed his cheeks and she noticed his eyes well up with tears as he hurriedly looked away. "Yeah."

"You are not. I can tell," she mumbled, pulling him into a hug.

His hair was washed, bathed in oils. He smelt so wonderful and felt so warm against her. She wanted to squeeze her arms around him and never let him go. He was here, he was real. Was he going to leave? He couldn't, she wouldn't allow it. But what about her husband? He would not show pity on Jacob. He would not allow them to fall in love. Aro would only allow them to mate for a purpose.

It was true that she loved Aro to some degree. How could she not? They had spent many years, moons and suns together. Even though he was merciless, strong willed and wicked - he loved her. He'd been the first to love her. The first to touch her in the night, the first to not be afraid but to embrace her, to show her that she was more than just an animal. He showed her she was beautiful, that her strength was going to lead the new world to order. That she would be the perfect woman to be by his side as his armies took the last free cities and burned them to the ground. He was going to make her a general. A real queen. Queen of the whole world. And what girl hadn't dreamed of such a thing?

Sighing, Jacob hugged her back with as much force as she was currently showering on him. Her hair smelt of fresh honey straight from a beehive. Like the warm touch of a flickering candle as the flame slowly died down.

"Will you leave?" Leah asked in a small voice, her hands trembling against his skin. She knew what had to be done.

"Do you want me to stay?"

Pulling back Jacob searched her face for an answer. Her big brown eyes were down cast and her bottom lip was pushed out into a pout. Without thinking he tilted her chin up and kissed her sad bottom lip. "Leah - tell me you want me to stay and I will - tell me."

Leah shook her head and climbed off his lap, pushing away the arms that were trying to reach for her to stay. Picking up her robe from the plush carpet floor she slipped it on and tied it tight around her waist.

"You have to leave," she whispered, her voice trembling.

Jacob felt a lump form in his throat. She was telling him to leave? After what they- after what- "You don't want me?" he grimaced, awaiting her reply.

The air was thick and Jacob's head was spinning. His soul mate. This was his soul mate. She was perfect for him, and he for her. How could she-

"Once I am pregnant, my husband will see no use for you. Do you understand what I am telling you? Do you understand _now - _why you cannot stay?"

Before Jacob could reply she was already talking again, moving towards the door.

"I like you Jacob Black. More than I probably should. One thing I know is that you don't deserve to die, and I don't deserve anything you give me. I wish I could have grown up with people like _us _- but the facts are quite clear; though we are the same species, we are _not_ the same. I have no goodness left in my heart - and I can feel yours."

Jacob could feel his jaw clench and his fists ball. He couldn't believe she was saying this. "Anyone can change. _Anyone_. You have to know that, Leah. You are not lost to the world yet. There are so many beautiful things still to see in this world; a sunrise of a free world and not behind the walls of this city, the gathering of free humans that still fight against all that this is. All, this place represents. Come with me. Please let me show you that humanity is not dead. That there are still such things as love, children - _family_"

Leah closed her eyes and reached for the door handle, her fingertips shaking around the metal. Once upon a time she had a family and though she could not remember them, she knew in her heart she loved them.

She would never ask them to do the things she had done, be a part of such horrific things she had seen. The world - the life she was in, was not worth such things as the love of a father, the love of a mother, siblings.

Jacob didn't understand that she'd given up a long time ago.

"I'll come back this evening to give you a key. You will leave from the western gates. I will arrange a horse and knapsack for you. You will not look back; you will not stop until you find your camp."

"Leah wait!" Jacob yelled, kicking the sheet from his feet and walking over to her. He cupped her chin and kissed her with such intensity her knees felt weak and the tears re-formed in her eyes. "Come with me damnit! Let me show you everything there is to live for."

Leah chuckled and gave him a sad smile. Placing her hands on his chest she pushed him back into the room a little, making sure he would not follow.

"Jacob – sweet, sweet Jacob. Don't you see?"

Leaning up she kissed his cheek and breathed into his ear.

"I'm _already_ dead_._"

AN - Clearly I am leaving these one shots open for all you lovely readers. You can decide if Leah stays with Aro, or if she leaves with Jacob. It's all up to you and how you'd like it to end. It gives us all a little hope, or not, depending on how you like your angst served. Thanks for all your wonderful reviews!

Next up, some fluff to make up for the multiple times I will kill off the main characters in these one shots and for the amount of times I will break these characters hearts. After all, a good balance of angst and fluff _must_ be maintained.


	6. F

AlphaBet(a)

_..._

F is for Foxtrot

...

Sam tapped each of them on the head as he walked one by one past them.

'Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Fox-'

"Why am I always a _fox_?" Leah pouted, her lips coloured red from the raspberry sucker she'd worked all morning on to get down to just a pale white stick.

She tugged on the collar of the bright green top her mum had made her wear to Aunt Sarah's birthday. It was hot, choking her like a boa constrictor and she wanted nothing more than to rip it off and wear one of her basketball singlets, the same one she always wore when she went to the Black's house.

"You're not a fox Lee-Lee," Sam replied smugly, as he watched her hair tousle in the light afternoon breeze. "You're fox_trot_."

Leah frowned looking over Sam. She hated that he was taller than her, his hair almost midnight blue because it was so black. Sam was always in charge of making the call signs when they played and she was sick of being one of the last people to receive a code name.

She wanted to be up the front, with the rest of the boys, even her little brother Seth had been given the name Echo. E for Echo, which was just before her. Seth was cool, after all he was her brother, but he was slow. Slower than she was and slow enough to be caught.

Tugging on Leah's sleeve, Seth whispered in her ear. "We can swap if you want?"

Looking at his big brown eyes, she shook her head. Seth loved being Echo, hell he loved just being included in the games. He was four years younger than Sam and she often had to glare and pout at Sam to get him to allow her baby brother to play.

"It's okay Seth," she sighed, scratching at the material of her top that felt like a caterpillar was crawling on her skin.

Sam stepped forward and ran his rough hand along her upper arm making the hairs on her neck stand upright and she couldn't help but shudder. "Don't worry Lee-Lee. I'll protect you. The Alpha always protects the rest of his pack."

Leah couldn't help but snort as she pulled the white stick from her mouth and threw it at his head. "I don't need your protection, Uley."

...

Harry chuckled as he rolled up Leah's jean legs to her knees. He could see that her fall had made it swell a little and there were a couple of scratches, but no blood had been drawn.

"Is there blood Dad?" Leah groaned, biting down on her red lip and grimacing. She hated the sight of blood, hated how it ran down her skin, hated the smell.

"Nah, you should be able to walk on it soon. Just don't run around with the boys anymore and you should be as good as gold," he smiled as he kissed her forehead and meandered toward the freezer.

"But, then I am going to be bored Dad, so _bored_-" she whined, imagining having to sit on the couch all afternoon while all the adults and other children were out the back having fun.

She wanted to see Sam's mum get really drunk and dance with all the guys. She wanted to watch Billy eat so much cake he just about passed out. She wanted to watch as her mother explained to the rest of the woman how to make the perfect fry bread. She didn't want to sit on the damn couch.

"I don't want to sit on the _damn_ couch," she grumbled as Harry walked over, shuffling a small bag of frozen peas in his hands.

"Baby girl – what did I tell you about that word?" he asked sweetly as he placed the bag of peas over her swollen knee and rubbed it around some.

Leah looked away to roll her eyes "Damn is a swear word and is not to be used in the house."

Harry laughed as he picked her up gently from the bench and sat her upright on the couch in the living room. His little girl was getting so big. In only a matter of months she would be nine and he wanted to be able to keep her sweet and tiny for the rest of her life. She was so bright, funny and even though she was respectful to both her mother and him – often quick witted and sharp tongued.

"Just give it half an hour and then you can go play again." He ruffled her hair gently before walking out the back door, carrying with him a bag of crisps from the bench.

Leah huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. She couldn't believe Jacob had run into her and they'd both been caught by Sam and Paul. Paul had laughed his head off as she held her knee and Seth ran off whimpering to get their dad, crying about how he could see her leg bone sticking out and that she'd been shot.

Seth was always such a drama queen.

Hearing a creak in the floorboards she rolled her eyes knowing exactly who it would be. "I know you're there," she said in a bored tone, shifting the bag of peas on her knee to sit over the part that hurt the most. "I hope you brought me a soda to apologise."

Jacob rounded the couch, his hands behind his back, his hair swaying against his shoulders. His cheeks were so red they matched her lips and she wondered what he had behind his back.

"Uh - "Jacob stuttered, scratching his head and working out how to apologise. "It's not a soda but I can get one for you," he said hurriedly, ready to dash out of the door in embarrassment and never come back.

"What's behind your back?" Leah asked, trying to lean across the couch to have a peek.

"Nothing."

"Oh come on Jake – what is it? It better not be something disgusting" she cringed, thinking about the time Paul put a dead raccoon in Rachel's bed after she'd told on him for breaking one of the fences down at the tribal meeting hall. None of their parents ever found out how the animal had gotten into the twins rooms, but all the kids knew it was Paul.

Jacob sighed and hung his head as his arm came around his body. His fingers twirled the tiny stem and Leah was almost gob smacked. _Almost_.

"You brought me a - _flower_?" she said in a disbelieving tone as she placed a hand over her mouth, watching as he swirled the tiny white flower in his fingers. It hadn't mattered that it was a flower that grew from the weeds around the side of the house – it was the thought that counted.

"Yeah." He replied with a blush, kicking his toe shyly into the floorboards. "When my dad makes my mom upset he always brings her flowers to say sorry."

"That's so creepy-" she started, making Jacob frown instantly. "But – kinda cute I guess." She smiled placing her hand out to take it from him.

Passing the flower to her, he felt her soft hands brush his fingertips and he grinned. Seth was always talking about how soft her hands were; that she washed her hands all the time in his own mother's home made lotions that she sold in town to one of the hairdressers and almost all of the other ladies on the reservation.

"Thank you."

"Uh-" Jacob choked, as he rubbed the tension in his neck. "No problem."

He knew he had to leave before she noticed that he was turning the same colour as a tomato but he wanted to say something first, something nice, something he meant.

"Lee?" he began, watching as she twirled the flower in her own fingers making it look like a tiny dancing ballerina.

"Yeah?" she grinned, as he looked at the white of her teeth against her red lips making him touch his own.

He wondered what it would be like to kiss her. To kiss the colour from her lips. Would his lips also turn red? Would she taste like raspberries?

"If I was Alpha like Sam, I'd pick you next. I'd let you be Beta."

"Why?"

"Cause you're fast, strong and really good at making plans and tagging the other team. I think that Sam is just jealous because you can beat him in a foot race. That's why he doesn't pick you first – but not me. I need strong people in my pack and you're the strongest one I know."

Leah snorted as she placed the small flower in her hair above her ear. "Thanks Jake. If it means anything, I would rather follow you than Sam. You're actually worth following."

She laughed thinking about the look on Sam's face if she were to ever say that in front of him.

"Really?" Jake grinned back, as she nodded and shrugged.

"Really. Go figure." She shifted the cold peas on her knee and laughed as Jacob bounded back out the door with the biggest smile she'd ever seen on his lips.

She couldn't help but feel smug as she laid her head back on the couch. She was sick of being foxtrot.

But one day when Jake was Alpha, he was going to pick her as Beta and she was going to rub it in Sam Uley's face until he cried like a baby.

AN - Aww, baby Blackwater. Isn't it adorable? I like the idea of them all as kids, especially with their personalities very much the same, though with far less swearing and more itsy bitsty cuteness!


	7. G

AlphaBet(a)

_..._

G is for Gods

...

The cowboy boots she wore sunk in the muddied road as the heavens continued to pour heavy raindrops from the darkened sky. She wanted to stomp the usual smile off his face as she imagined his pathetic apology this time. The same smile that would suck her back in, time after time. She knew it wasn't just the smile but her own feelings that accompanied the thoughts of him. She was sick of excuses and was left so numb, she was sure that this time she wouldn't even hear his words.

The floral print dress, she'd spent hours in the tiny discount shop to find, was completely soaked through, the tights she had on matching that of the dress. She looked miserable, felt miserable, like she was walking along a street where everyone knew her secrets, that with every step she could hear them sniggering, whispering at how she'd been let down, been stood up again.

Her usual wavy hair was dead straight from the weight of the water cascading through it and her eyelashes were catching too much water, making her blink furiously to keep from being blinded. If someone was to stop her on the road they may have believed she was crying.

She wasn't. She wouldn't. Not anymore. Not when she didn't care. When he didn't.

Her insides were crushed by the weight of despair. She'd waited at the arcade for him and he hadn't even texted or called to say he was going to be late. After spending close to an hour on 'Grand Turismo' racing by herself, she'd given up hope that he would come. A hope some would say she should have never held for him.

'Grand Turismo' wasn't a game you could play by yourself, it was just – not how it worked. It was a two person game for a reason, a reason that became apparent when she looked over at the empty racing car seat next to her. There was supposed to be laughing - his laugh - teasing, pushing and shoving, to assert one's dominance over the other racer. The whole afternoon was supposed to be filed with frozen drinks and brain freezes, popcorn and hard candies, balled up paper being thrown at other couples who looked all mushy and disgusting.

Stomping harder into the mud, she felt her anger begin to rise again when she heard the low hum of his car pull up alongside her. Looking ahead, she kept her gaze, making sure not to look at him.

The lowering of the passenger window made her wince, knowing that his voice would soon follow. The deep husky voice that promised to melt her into a gooey pile like a candle burned down to just its wick. It would leave her hot, translucent and bubbling for more. She prayed to the Gods that he would not speak, but as usual, her requests were left unanswered.

"Hey!" he called out when she didn't stop or get into the car. "What are you doing in the rain?"

"I'm walking!" she snapped, digging her hands into the pockets of the floral dress.

"I can see that."

Leah could tell he was smiling, amused somewhat by her anger and feisty tone. "Why don't you get in the car? It's warm in here and I'd love the company."

Through her vision she could see red. Her iris's felt like they were turning black and she had to loosen the grip on her dress pockets before she tore a hole in them from the inside.

It was funny how he'd suddenly wanted her company, now that he was finished with his business or at least whatever, or whoever; he was doing while he was standing her up. She wondered if he even removed his Roman Collar while he consorted with other women, sought out their greatest pleasures, made love to them like God was speaking directly to their bodies.

"I'm fine where I am," she ebbed through gritted teeth, wanting nothing more than to put her foot indent into the side of his car.

"So you're upset," he commented, leaving no room in his tone for it to be a question. "Look, what happened was, I-"

"I don't want to hear it Jacob," she said quietly, trying to hide any visible hurt in her voice.

"No really Leah, you have to hear this," he chucked nervously "- what happened was - see - me and Bella, we were -"

And there it was. The reason. The reason he'd not met with her at the arcade. The reason he was always late nowadays. _Bella_. Leah wanted to laugh, scoff at the name of the girl who thought she could take Jacob away from her, but it all seemed quite possible, like the planets were slowly aligning and beginning to make sense. The amount of time they spent together, coupled with their close family history - why would it seem impossible for Jacob not to suddenly see the light and go to Bella. Be Bella's sun - her everything.

Bella and him had spent most of last Sunday's sermon offering quick glances to each other like she wasn't sitting in the first row next to her mother and brother - like she was invisible. She could see as he flicked each page he read from, the low side-glance he would offer to the woman dressed in beige silk, a woman not afraid to show all her earthly possessions.

Leah had tried to look away, deny the fact in her own mind that his eye was definitely wandering. And why wouldn't it. Even her mother Sue had been surprised that they were a couple; the whole female population in the area had been stunned.

Jacob Black wasn't the type of man to fall in love with a woman so risky, so fiery. He sought a woman who could cook, clean, be the perfect wife and mother to his future children.

She wasn't a pastor's wife, nor was she the material that it would make to be one.

She was outspoken, crude and young. While Jacob was ready to settle down and live a quiet, peaceful life, she still had things she needed to do. Had things she wanted to see. Albeit, she wanted to see them with him, he didn't seem to have the time between sermons, leading public vigils and consoling those who needed his help.

She wondered how a man of God could be so frugal in his endeavours to please his own flesh, to be pressed up against a woman who was not the one waiting for him at home.

It was probably to be expected, with him being fifteen years her senior.

While he could be playful and young at heart, she could see his underlying intentions. See his aspirations to have a perfect life. Maybe he was merely testing the waters with her, trying to create something that was never there. A love that had always been one sided.

"-Are you even listening to anything I am saying?"

Shrugging her shoulders Leah answered truthfully not wanting to sugar coat anything any longer. Why should she? She no longer felt like the other half of his life, but merely a burden, a challenge. Fix what was once broken and the Lord God will shine his graces upon you, leading you straight into the Garden of Eden. Make right those doers who had strayed from the path, guide them and you will be guided, saved by the son of Christ. She'd heard it all before.

"Not really." Running both her hands through her hair, she swirled it into a loose bun, squeezing down on the locks to remove most of the build-up of rain. She so desperately wanted to be able to rid him from her heart the same way. But it wasn't so easy and she knew it would never be.

With a sigh Jacob spoke, his tone clearly disappointed in something. Another disappointment on her behalf. "Leah, get in the car, it's raining, and you'll catch a cold for heaven's sake."

"Really?" she snapped rolling her eyes, continuing to trudge through the mud. "I hadn't noticed. Look since I'm already wet I'm just going to walk the rest of the way."

"It's another three miles to the house. I've finished for the afternoon and the Church doesn't expect me back until the morning."

"So?" she scoffed.

"_So_ - get in the car."

"Go away Jacob. Go back to your born again Christian - the holier than thou - Bella Swan."

"Not until you get in the car."

"If I did that, it would kind of defeat the purpose of you going away, now wouldn't it?"

"Why are you always so difficult?"

"Why are you always such an ass?"

"Impossible."

"Asshole."

"Deviant."

"Donkey raper!"

"Really?" Jacob chuckled, letting a smirk raise on his lips. "You couldn't think of anything better than-"

"Cheater!"

Leah heard the tires of the crawling car stop in the mud, the hand brake coming up and the car stopping where it stood. She closed her eyes walking a little faster to block him out as the car door slammed and the heavy footsteps of his boots sounded behind her.

She let out a small gasp when his fingers clamped around her elbow, effectively spinning her around to face him. His eyes were black, the rage so prominent within them she felt a little taken back. Black like the red sea Moses parted to free the Israelites from the oppressors of the Roman Kingdom. She could feel the heavy breaths he was letting out, his heat washing all over her.

"I have never cheated on you!" he growled, making sure to get his point across to her.

"Not yet - but you will," she replied confidently, trying to shake his grasp.

"Do you want me to?"

"Do whatever you like Black. I couldn't really give a shit." She spoke with malice from her heart, the same malice she felt for Bella Swan - the divorcee, the single mother, the woman who wanted everything for herself and was comfortable with giving nothing.

"Answer the question - Do you want me to cheat on you? Because the path you are taking-"

"Do I have a choice?" she screamed, pushing him backwards before she balled her fists by her side.

Of course she didn't have a choice. She was old news, used, bitter and broken. What could any man see in her that they wanted a future with? She and Jacob had talked about marriage but it seemed to be a taboo topic. Jacob had been once married before and in the eyes of God she knew he would not marry another. She knew - that's why she wore the silver band on her finger, a promise ring - to keep a promise - to be his.

"I don't own you Jacob. What you do with your own life is your decision. I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. So go - cheat, fuck the whole reservation, fuck every pathetic, un-worshipped, no good sinner you meet - just don't except me to wait for you. I'm done. I'm so fucking done."

Jacob sighed knowing this was about Bella. The infatuation they both shared with one another, the chemistry that could not be denied between them. He loved Leah Clearwater, the beautiful girl he'd seen walking on the pier one night - the first night.

Leah was so different to the other women - alive - making him feel more alive than he had in years. But could he give up Bella - his best friend, the woman that needed him now in her hour of darkness. Could he put his own happiness in front of another's?

"I can't just walk away from her, Leah. She's my best friend."

Hearing the words, Leah clawed at her hand to pull the silver ring off her finger. Clutching it in her hand she threw it at his chest and watched as it bounced off the hard muscle and sunk into the wet dirt, much like her heart was sinking into her stomach.

He said it. He couldn't walk away. He couldn't give her up.

Leah may not have been educated with a fancy college degree but she was nobody's idiot. She wouldn't be able to love herself if she let him play with her heart, she wouldn't allow him to live vicariously through her just for his own kicks.

Jacob whimpered at the sight of his mother's wedding ring being tainted with the soil. Bending over he grasped the ring in his hand and rubbed it against his shirt, trying to clean the earth from its face. It was the only possession he had left that belonged to his mother and he thought by offering to Leah that she would see just how much she had meant to him - how much she still meant to him.

"Give it to Bella. I'm sure she'll be stoked."

Jacob could see the tiny tears falling from her eyes. From the eyes of a woman he'd hurt, while unintentionally, still hurt. Maybe she was just so young she didn't understand the way he loved her, the way he felt when he was with her. The way he felt in the early morning, watching as the sun rose across her face as she slept. The way he felt sitting on the porch to watch her hang the large white bedding out to dry. The way she looked at this very moment, drizzled by the rain - _vulnerable_.

"Leah-" he exclaimed softly, "the ring is yours."

"It used to be for me Jake. Once upon a time. But no longer-"

"I – I-" he stuttered out, trying to make sense of the situation, trying to make sense of anything. "I can explain."

"Your confessions belong between you and your God, Jacob. I cannot resolve you; you will find no solace in me."

Leah looked up at him with those big brown eyes, her hands tucked into her dress, water dripping from her chin, her golden skin glistening from the pooling water on her flesh. His heart dropped when he heard the next words she muttered so softy he could barely hear, knowing simply that her heart was breaking with them.

"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. No further-"

AN - Another of my favs. Can anyone else imagine how fuckhot JB would be as a pastor? I'd have to go to confession constantly to abstain for my sins. Granted most of the sins would be in my head (while listening to the sermons). I'm sure God would forgive me. I think. Either way. Totally worth it. Damn, I really gotta stop making Jacob the bad guy because we all know Ms Leah is not perfect herself.

Also, I have added the info for the Blackwater A-Z challenge to my profile for any of you who would like to participate! Any questions should go to Kei Kat Jones or Cucumber07 as I am merely a pawn in their fabulous games!


	8. H

AlphaBet(a)

_..._

H is for Human

...

The room was dark as a single bulb swung from the low-lying ceiling. A thick wetness could be seen trickling down the walls from the moisture the small air conditioning system was trying it's hardest to fight against. The air was literally thick enough to cut with a knife. Humidity, it seemed, could make its way through everything, even the thick concrete and steel of the tiny-boxed room. Like a thick fog, it settled in the air, making it harder than usual to breathe.

Leah sat bound to the chair, her inky black hair swaying in front of her face as her eyes begun to flutter open. She could feel the soft silk woven around her wrists to keep her sat upright to the chair; start to rub raw her skin. It would not doubt leave marks, perhaps scars, but she wasn't worried. Scars are what kept her bound to herself, her past, her history; for it was the scars that made her remember what turmoils she had endured, what sacrifices she had made.

Whether it was the long thin scar that ran from her collarbone to her shoulder, or the clawed scars across the inside of her forearm from a great beast. The scars were real; making her constantly remember, that, from which she came.

Smelling the dry acid smell of bleach made her nose wrinkle in disgust as she contemplated exactly how long she'd been in her current position. Her thighs were aching, cramped from the lowness that the chair was providing for her long legs and her calves had already begun to throb as the pain moved down. She could feel her shoulder muscles stretched back to an impossible angle, and the muscles of her neck painfully pinching under her skin.

It was too much to wish to be sprawled out in an endless horizon of white sand, to be disturbed by only that of the rumble of waves as they softly broke against the shore. It was hard to remember the blue of the ocean, the heartbreaking shades that flittered across the calm water as the day slowly came to an end with a descending sun.

Sniffing the air she also detected a hint of smoke - cigar smoke if she'd had any money to bet. Money that would be useless in this day and age.

"You're awake," a smooth voice whispered across the way, distinct enough to give off the subtle hints of male.

Her ears were still ringing slightly, making the voice seem distorted and unclear; and the splitting headache that was cracking through her skull made it seem unbearable.

She wasn't sure if it had been the one or multiple explosions that had damaged the sensitive buds of her ears and left small droplets of blood on her sweet soaked tee.

Besides the roaring sounds, the only thing she could remember was the fire. The fire that raged, that moved like a wave, a tsunami of flames, fire that could even melt bone.

Trying her best to sit up in the chair, Leah slowly leant back into the creaky wood, tilting her chin upwards, attempting to sweep the hair from her eyes. Squeezing them shut briefly, she blinked a few times to let the room settle around her.

The darkness of the room was highlighting her eyes and she knew it. Tilting her head back down towards the shadow, she watched from the corner of her eyes, a man across from her rise from his seat. She knew he could tell what she was just by her eyes.

The suit pants he wore looked expensive. Creamy, khaki and pleated which seemed to have all the markings of a very wealthy man, even though there were not many of them left in the world. His mouth was slightly ajar, his teeth clenched around a brown rolled stick, it's end turning a glowing red as he inhaled and breathed out a long line of smoke.

She knew it was a goddamn cigar. Maybe after she killed him she would allow herself enough time to find his box of hidden treasures and smoke them all over his dead body. Maybe she would even sell them, make enough money to buy certain luxuries she hadn't experienced in years. Scented shampoo's, body oils, freshly baked bread - things which were rare and had such high trading prices upon them.

"You're alive," she rasped out as she glanced down at her own clothing. She'd been disarmed of all her weaponry and was only left in the black jeans and white singlet she'd worn under a leather jacket. Arching her feet she noticed they were also bare, her boots taken, the same boots that had taken her three years to find in her size. Her heart hadn't clenched when she'd taken them from the dead body of a red head who was left out in the streets like trash. She knew she should have felt something - remorse, pity; _anything _but nothing.

It was survival of the fittest, a fight to an inevitable death.

"Yes," he mused, clapping his hands together in a slow eerie rhythm, before stopping right in front of her. "Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the rest of your pod."

Her eyes blinked in recognition. Her pod had consisted of several strays she'd managed to pick up on her journeys, people she'd learned to trust.

Quil was the first she had saved from the hands of death. He'd been beaten after they'd taken his wife for _their_ experiments, left to die in a puddle of his own blood. Once the monsters had left she was careful to hoist him over her shoulder and over the next weeks cared for him in an old deserted cabin she'd found as shelter deep in the Alaskan woods. He proved invaluable to her team.

He'd been a boilermaker in his old life, a man who twisted and manipulated metal into anything his hands guided it into. It had been hard to find the metals he needed, but once they were found, the weaponry he built was unbreakable to even the strength of the vampires. It could cut through their cold marble skin to effectively immobilise them while they burned each and every last bit of them.

Embry had been the second, the tallest and most awkward of the pod. Even to this day he had not muttered a word, not even a loud breath had been exhaled from his mouth.

Leah sometimes spoke to him, touched him delicately on the face so he could remember what he was fighting for. He was a warrior; he'd seen death, pain, torment. He'd seen everything and just by her simple touch she could make tears roll down his face.

She wanted to ask who he had lost, what she looked like, what her name was - but she never did. She was happy just to take some of his pain away just by letting the gentle giant sit between her legs while she kissed his temple like a child.

Emily had been the last of the pod that made up the team. She had only been found three months ago, cowering in the corner of a building next to the body of her husband who had been killed days before. She sat frozen staring with wide eyes at the body and Leah wasn't even sure if she was alive when they'd found her.

Using a worn blanket from their travel packs, Embry covered the body while Leah attempted to will the girl from where she sat. It was clear that Emily was a broken woman, but being in the pod gave her a purpose. She cooked what little food they had, made sure that un-poisoned water was collected where possible and played mother hen to the rest of them.

Leah allowed her to do so in an attempt to keep her mind busy, her thoughts kept off that of the body that she could still see when she closed her eyes at night. Her husband, the one who had loved her unconditionally.

Leah would make sure to gently touch Embry's face when he would watch Emily and Quil interact - flirt - around the fire. There was a deep curiosity that bled into a pained look on Embry's face. His eyes watched carefully each movement of their hands, each brushing touch, those that were quick and those that lingered.

It hurt Leah herself to watch Embry see the two together and she wondered what was going on in that quiet mind of his. By touching him, his eyes would snap to hers questionably and then flutter closed as she stroked her thumb over the apple of his cheek.

Nothing could have happened to them, they were all she had left in the world.

Her eyes snapped towards that huge man's, set in a deep glare. The eyes that stared back at her were curious, intrigued at finding such a specimen, but most of all longing. She growled low in her throat when she saw such a human look that crossed over his face.

His long hair was braided similarly to her own, this jaw strong and set in an angular frame. He was so large, built like cold steel. Like marble skin had been laid over pulsing rippling muscles. He was impossibly handsome, the light material of his shirt sitting perfectly against his body, showing off almost every definition of crevice hidden underneath.

But even with all those things, he couldn't hide the fact that he was dead. The undead.

"You lie!" she spat, pulling tightly against her bindings to find a way free. "I'll kill you! I'll kill everything you have ever set your eyes on, anything you have ever loved if _any _of them are hurt!"

Even though they were not her kin, she felt an unexplainable bond to them. They may not have been blood, but they were bonded together by more than that. They were bonded by love, chained to each other, chained to emotions for the other.

Tilting his head to the side in amusement, his lips broke apart to offer her a wide grin. "I think I'll keep you," he mused, reaching out to rip the front of her singlet apart, tearing it in two.

Taking a long lustful gaze at the way her chest heaved up and down in anger he chuckled. "Yes, I think I will - keep you, that is."

Leah gritted her teeth as she watched him slowly retreat and sit atop a wooden desk. "You can't kill me, not even if you wanted to. There are rules-"

"Rules?" he spat, fire lighting so quickly in his eyes she only had time to manage a straggled gasp as he snatched her chin in his hands, forcing her to look into his eyes. "You dare question me of the _rules_?"

The rules were simple; Vampires could not kill any more human's, instead they would be farmed and feed from.

Letting her face go and backing away she watched as he sat back calmly on the desk to retrieve a lighter from his pocket to restart the cigar he'd left sit in the ashtray. He was clearly not of the right mind to be able to sway back and forth so easily from anger to calm.

"Who said anything about killing you?" he smiled as he waggled his eyebrows, Leah knowing straight away of his intentions for her. "I have much bigger plans for you girl, so much bigger," he chuckled, rubbing the front of the disgustingly expensive pants.

"Try it and I will snap that icicle from between your legs," she threatened, struggling against the bonds once again.

"Try it and I will sink my teeth into that pretty neck of yours," he snapped so quickly like he'd known what she was about to say.

They sat in the silence just watching each other, looking over each other.  
>While Leah though of ways to be able to escape and take him down in the process, he imagined the ways he could love her, make love to her, enjoy the touch of a warm human woman after so long. How he would make her cry just so he could taste her tears, how he would place his lips over her jugular vein and just let it pulse against them. How he would kiss her and taste life, kiss her and want more, touch her shoulder as she lay naked in front of him, his fingers dancing up and down her spine, counting each vertebrae.<p>

"Tell me how you managed to survive after the attacks?" he questioned, pulling up a chair and sitting in front of her, his knees almost touching her own. "How did you and the other humans survive?"

Clearing her throat she looked at him with a bored expression "You think I'm just going to tell you that kind of information? You think I _trust _you?"

"Swarms of soldiers have been sent out; they will find the last remaining of your kind. Those of you that remain free. You should trust me; I will make sure no one touches you. I will make you my mate and none will have claim over you - only me." He promised, his ice cold fingers running across her cheek, colleting together at her chin.

Turning a cheek to him Leah grimaced. She couldn't understand why he would want her as a mate, why anyone would. The only man she was remotely close to was Embry. They hadn't even kissed but she could feel her bones trembling when she was so close to him. Embry was a good man, though he was hard to read and never once let her name fall from his lips, at least he had a heart. It was a warm, pumping organ in his chest that she could lay her ear upon and count out his life's beat as it slowly drummed. She could tap her fingers against his neck and just be with him, unafraid of dying.

"I'll never be what you want and you can never give me what I need." She hissed, using her heels to kick against his chair and flip her own.

It happened so fast he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. A whimper slid past her lips as her shoulder popped out of its socket. Though the pain was worth everything, as the landing had dislodged one of the planks in the back of the wooden chair setting her arms free.

With her wrists still bound she managed to get to her feet and ran straight toward the small door.

Wrapping her hands around the small knob she cried out in frustration once she realised it was locked. Kicking the door with her foot she huffed and turned around to see the vampire smugly sitting, still on the edge of the desk, dangling a chain of silver from his fingertips.

Squinting her eyes she could see the small outline of a key hanging from its end and she slammed her heel back against the pine.

"You think I would let you go so easily?" he drawled, swinging the chain through the thick air before catching it and balling it in his fist. "You need to work for this key little girl."

"The fuck I do," she growled as she slid down the pine, feeling the rough surface scratch at her back as she sat on her heels.

She thought about her friends, the strange people she had collected along the way, whom she now called family. "Are they really dead?"

The vampire frowned as she looked up with her big brown eyes, her clear un-poisoned eyes. Eyes that still held life, love, hope and faith deeply within them. Her voice was softer now, not so rough and jagged, her breathing coming in small pants of despair.

"Did you really kill them?"

Walking over to her, he gently took her hand and helped her up. His fingers danced over her cheek again, brushing back the fallen stray hairs from her braided hair. "You know what you have to do to allow them to live. They are safe for now beautiful, but I cannot guarantee it for much longer. Traded items can only buy us so much time."

"Will it hurt?" she winced, swallowing the hard lump that had formed in her throat.

"Will what hurt?" he asked, sliding his other hand up to hold her face.

"When you turn me, will it hurt?"

It was stupid of her to ask, she already knew the answer. As soon as the poison came into contact with human blood it started to work, to change the DNA, to kill off any life and replace it with death.

"I don't want to kill you, sweet flower."

Whispering he inhaled the sweet scent of her skin, feeling his insides churn with want. "I want you to _live_. Live beside me; be with me until you meet your own _natural _end."

"But-" she started, only to be cut off by his lips. She wanted to smack herself as she moaned against his closed lips, tasting their cool sugary taste as the flavour leaked through. Even though he looked hard and marble like, his lips were soft – so soft against hers.

It was strange having a monster touch her the way she touched Embry, him stroking her cheeks, feeling the pulse thrum under her neck.

"No buts. That is what I want, take it or leave it," he whispered, his icy breath making her dizzy and her knees weak.

"And you'll let them free? You'll spare them?"

Smirking, he grasped her hand and pulled her from the door so he could unlock it slowly. "I'll do you one better, I'll let them go, I'll allow them to take the supplies they need _and _I'll even let you say goodbye."

Leah couldn't pass up the offer. To be able to have her friends – her _family_– let go was already such a high bargaining chip. He held all the cards in the deck, except the one she held to her chest; the queen of hearts.

"Do we have a deal?" he asked looking back at her over his shoulder as he turned the key.

Letting her eyes drift up his back, she looked into the deep crimson red of his iris'. "Yes, we have a deal."

...

"Quickly, you must collect your things, you have to go," Leah chilled as she slipped into the deep jail her pod was being held in.

"Whoa, Leah?" Quil muttered as he got to his feet, palming the brick to hoist himself up. "Where have you been? Did they hurt you?"

As quickly as she'd entered, Quil had his arms wrapped around her, checking her for signs of injury.

"Oh my – Lee!" Emily sobbed clinging on to Leah's forearm and crying into her shoulder. "We were scared that they killed you."

Leah knew Quil and Emily would be fine, they would eventually realise their love for one another and be a couple, and they would at least have each other. She wasn't worried about them; it was the man her eyes locked with that she felt her heart drop for.

Embry sat in the corner of the room, his knees up and his forearms resting over them. His head was cocked to the side as he watched the other two embrace Leah like she had risen from the dead.

Whispering lowly to the two, Leah asked for a moment with Embry. She slowly walked toward him and crouched down, reaching out her hand and cupping his cheek. As if on instinct he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch much like a child would.

"Embry," she whispered, hearing a growl sound out behind her.

"Not too close now," the vampire warned, jealousy and snide entering his voice, watching as she touched the man intimately, in ways she had now promised to touch only him.

Embry's head shot to the sound of the man's voice, a low growl escaping his lips, his whole body vibrating with rage.

"Embry," Leah whispered again, taking no notice of the vampire and his remark. "Look at me."

Managing to tear his eyes away from the large figure at the cell doors, Embry looked into her deep dark eyes, noticing wetness forming across her beautiful face. He whimpered as his hand reached out, cupping her cheek and brushing his thumb over her eyebrow.

"Listen to me okay? You, Emily and Quil have to go. You have to go far, far away from here. Go and find the others, go back to Alaska and stay in the cabin, go anywhere but here."

Her voice was broken as she spoke, soft and in pieces like her heart was. She wanted so desperately to go with them, but she had made a deal. She had traded her own freedom - for theirs.

She couldn't help but bite her bottom lip as she watched him shake his head, his eyes lingering back to the vampire.

"Look at me!" she said forcefully. "You _will_ do as I ask. You _will _go."

"But Leah, what about-" Emily started, holding tightly to Quil's hand as they both stood away from the doors.

"Don't worry about me," she scolded, turning her head only slightly to look upon her friends. "You will do this for me. You _will _live; otherwise my sacrifice will be in vain."

Emily and Quil nodded their heads, taking in her instructions, listening carefully to the escape passage they were to use.

When the time had come for them to move, Embry held onto her, her hand being crushed by his huge palm and the pure strength he emitted.

Reaching up she placed both her hands around his neck to pull him down. "You listen and you listen well Embry-" she almost chuckled remembering the first time she had asked him his name and he spelled it out against the black sand. "- You will find someone, someone so special that you will forget about me. Don't fight it, don't try and push her away. Promise that you will use your words with her Embry, use them to hold her, to love her and most of all to keep her. I love you too much to watch you suffer. Now go."

Kissing him softly on his cheek, she felt the tears run down her face as he did the same. He hugged her one more time, resting his face in the crook of her neck and inhaling her scent.

Leah sobbed when she heard the muffled, raspy words that came from his mouth. It was the first time she had heard him speak, the first time she had heard his voice.

Watching them run down the dark tunnel, Leah leant against the wall and tried to breath. She felt light headed, like the tunnel was closing around her, like it was going to suffocate her.

The words he spoke into her shoulder made her realise what exactly he had lost, what had made him the way he was, what the world had cost him.

They floated like large signs, swirling, and imprinting in her mind; chaining her forever to those words.

_'I love you Mummy'_

Her heart broke and she couldn't help but sob loudly once the vampire's cold arms wove around her waist from behind. His chin was resting on her shoulder and he watched in fascination as each tear rolled down her face. He wanted to point out his tongue and taste them, but decided not to.

"Your name is Leah," he smiled as he kissed the throbbing vein, engorged with blood due to her pulse from crying.

"I hate you," she whispered, turning her face away from his mouth and effectively giving him greater access to her neck.

"I have a name - perhaps you should use it."

Breathing against her skin, he watched in awe as a shudder moved down her spine. At first he suspected it was out of fear, but then almost immediately he was hit with the powerful smell of her human arousal.

"What is it?"

"My name was given to me a long time ago. My father says by God himself." He replied running his hands over her stomach.

"_Israel_. That is my name, but not the name given to me by my father, Isaac. Once our sons are born, I will be allowed to have my birth name back, the name given to me as both my brother, Esau, and I sat in our mother's womb."

"Sons?" Leah swallowed, turning back toward him with a horrified look on her face. She had not agreed to harness such a deadly monster inside of her. She would lay down with him, try to love him, do anything she could - anything but _that_.

"Yes, my love. You know, all these years I have been searching for another wife. You can imagine my surprise hearing that you are also named what they called her. Leah, meaning tired and weary. Are you not tired Leah? Come let us get you cleaned and rested."

"Wait," Leah breathed as a memory tickled the back of her mind. The memory of a story she once heard before, a long time before this madness begun. "I have heard of you before."

Smiling, Israel took her hand and kissed her palm gently. "Of course you have, dear; I am the patriarch whose descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel."

Kissing her other hand, he let his lips linger. "I am 'God's struggle' - his strength."

"Your name is _not _Israel."

Stepping out of his embrace she turned to look over him, noticing under the soft cotton of his shirt, the silver chain sat. However next to the key, which had set her free from the room, sat another tiny emblem.

An emblem of the human world, of the mankind's hope, its faith, its father.

"You wear a cross?"

"It's beautiful isn't it, crafted by angels from God. And you are right - my name is _not _Israel."

Leah felt his lips come down against hers softly again, his touch igniting a deadly plague of lust to course through her body.

Whispering against her lips, she watched as a single tear fell down the vampire's cheek.

"How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, and love the offender, yet detest the offence?"

Before Leah could open her mouth and ask what he was taking about, he cut her off once again.

"Jacob. That is my name - _Jacob_."

Slowly but surely, his eyes flooded brown and his skin changed from the pasty pale colour, to a deep rich russet.

"Wha-"

"I was sent for you, by He who is the Lord God our father," he smiled, brushing her hair back over her shoulders. "For him to have given me such a great gift like you, I cannot comprehend to you my satisfaction. Such a perfect being, one who would sacrifice themselves above others. Many others had offered me their companion's lives for their own, wanting to trade what did not belong to them. They would give up their friends, their family, just to live."

Leah felt her cheeks turn a deep red and she stuttered to find words.

"You're an Angel? I can't - I don't - you _exist_?"

"Of course I exist." His eyes flooded again, this time to a deep mauve, piercing into hers intently. "Can you not see me standing in front of you? If vampires exist, is it so much of a stretch to believe that I do not, could not?"

He chuckled, shaking his head at her silliness. He was a solider of God, an Angel from heaven.

"Shit." Leah muttered rubbing the back of her neck. Somewhere deep inside she wasn't sure what to do now. Did she believe this vampire/man/Angel in front of her? And if she did believe would she be judged for what she had done, what lives she had taken in her time, what obstacles she may have crossed no matter the consequence. "Are you sure you have the right person?"

"God does not make mistakes, Leah. God only gives you a choice on who you would like to be. Imagine if you could start again; have your slate wiped clean from any wrong doing. Imagine if it could be like this all never existed, this world, this Hell."

"Nothing comes for free," she frowned back, waiting for something horrible to be on the receiving end of that price.

"You only have to do but one thing," he smiled, holding out his hand. "Take my hand and have faith."

Without a second thought Leah clung to his hand, wrapping her free arm around his upper arm and holding to it. "I hope you don't let me down," she mumbled as they walked along the dreaded tunnel which seemed to open up into a deep forest.

"It's not hope, its faith. I've had faith in God for so long and he has never let me down. Now, I dwell within the paradise that he has promised all of us."

With him squeezing her fingers, she let out a long sigh. "Is Embry going to be okay?"

Jacob stopped to tilt her chin up. Kissing her lips softly he felt her palms pressing against his chest and couldn't help but chuckle. "He'll be fine, Leah."

"But what if-"

"Enough with the questions, once we arrive I will tell you more."

"Where are we going? Who will be there? Come on, you have to tell me."

"You are very talkative - Maybe God has mistaken you for someone else?"

"What!"

Holding up his hands, Jacob laughed at her horrified face. "I'm kidding, Leah."

"Who knew Angels could be funny?" she mocked, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"And who knew Humans could be Angels?" he smirked, wrapping and arm around her shoulders and pulling her impossibly close.

AN – Huh. Well, that was weird. If you're not into God, cool. Imagine Jake is something other than an angel-ish type character. You can imagine a prince, a normal man, a crazy hot Hollywood teen that has abs so chiselled, you could lick honey from his pecks to his V. *shakes head* Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, must go to confession.


	9. I

AlphaBet(a)

_..._

I is for Iron

...

She was like a supernova.

A stellar explosion that was pure energy; an extreme luminous burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months or in her case... forever.

Several types of supernovae can be triggered by one of two ways; either by turning off suddenly from the lack of gas or suddenly turning on the production of energy through nuclear fusion.

A supernova is estimated to emit the same amount of energy as the Sun would in its entire life span.

A fact _he_ knew now, knowing simply that her family could never be consoled for their loss and that he could never replace her with his own warmth.

After the core of an aging massive star ceases generating energy from nuclear fusion, it will undergo a sudden gravitational collapse into a neutron star or black hole, releasing gravitational potential energy that heats and expels the star's outer layers.

Iron is the last element to be produced before the collapse of a supernova, its nuclear fusion causing radionuclides of the substance to blast into space.

They say a supernova in the Milky Way; the same galaxy, in which Earth resides, only happens once every fifty years.

Jacob Black disagreed with the last statement wholeheartedly. He'd witnessed a Supernova with his own eyes, here in LaPush not nearly two days ago.

He was the Alpha of the renegade pack that had broken away from the original LaPush wolf pack. Even though he was the true Alpha to all the wolves, he allowed Sam to rein half of the pack, men who were only loyal to him anyway.

It would have been much more difficult to fully take control of the two packs with whispers of mutiny amongst the growing numbers of protectors who were phasing almost on a daily basis due to the swarming number of newborns being spawned.

Jacob had decided he didn't want or _need_ any more difficulties in his life.

With Sam's intention of destroying the Cullen's due to an army making their way to Forks because of Bella Swan, he'd docilely decided to protect the girl he loved even though she'd planned to stay with the bronze haired, golden eyed vampire.

He knew he should have paid attention, much more attention than what he was giving to his pack. Being a leader meant more than just barking out orders and organizing rosters. A leader should have known his pack properly, know them inside out and if there had been weak links, he should have personally taken the task of repairing them.

Much like a solider, all they had were their team mates, their squadron, and their pack. Those who were stronger should have helped the weak. Those who were faster should have guided the slow. Had he paid more attention, he may have realised that a weak link in his pack existed. A weak link that mirrored the dangerous glow of blue electricity, shone with a coarse disgust and hatred for what they'd become, what they all were, what they had no choice in becoming.

If he had the chance to sit down and talk to her again, be with her somehow, hold her hand, let her talk to him about her fears, her insecurities, maybe he wouldn't be sitting in the dead girls room at this very moment.

For the first time in his life he cursed his supernatural hearing for being able to hear the soft sobs of a heart broken mother through the thin plaster of the walls.

Able to hear hearts breaking; souls dying.

He'd only been a young boy when they'd buried his mother, but to lose a child - someone that has be born from your own being, someone that is part of you, that you loved, raised, grew proud of, saw yourself in -

He couldn't even... begin to imagine.

Sighing, he ran his hands over the thick bound journal he'd found under one of her pillows. He'd expected to find a comfortable room, something girly, pretty even. What he didn't expect was to find a cell like dwelling.

She'd replaced the double ensemble for a thin sleeping bag on the wooden floors. Instead of a pink touch lamp beside her bed like most girls, sat a torch beside her sleeping bag. It was raggedy, ripped and not at all what he remembered her room like.

He'd seen it once as a boy. Bright colours, posters, books, sketches - everything a teenage girl was expected to have.

But instead he found a prison.

A prison designed not to keep someone in. But to keep those around one's self, out.

Flicking to the first page he began to read the journal, itching to understand, to find out what type of thing would lead someone to stand still in front of a new born and not fight back. A type of thing that made her freeze, give up, finally lose. He wanted to know, even if he was about to find out more than he bargained for.

He supposed the guilt is what made him seek out the truth so desperately. Had the kiss he and Bella shared atop of the mountain not been the instrumental thing running through his mind, he may have reacted sooner. Faster than he did.

Eventually he had grabbed a hold of the newborn, burying his teeth into its cold sweet flesh and tearing his head right off its neck. But it wasn't quick enough. Not nearly.

She'd already smelt like death as she clutched the bite on her neck and sunk to her knees, the wet soil sinking just that little bit under her weight. The whole pack had run to her, wanting to help but not knowing what to do.

There wasn't anything to do.

So there they all stood, watching as the light slowly faded from her eyes and the howling sound of her weeping brother in wolf form echoed from high upon the mountain. He'd seen her eyes as she died, watched her. And all he could do was watch.

Not a thing more.

...

May 15th

So, the guys hate me still, big surprise there *insert sarcasm*

I don't know how they can't understand.

If they had the love of their lives taken away from them and thrown into the arms of your best friend they would be fucking fuming too.

I can admit, it's not _all _about love. I expected _at least_ some loyalty from Sam.

I gave him four years of my life, and the only thing he ever gave me was a broken heart.

But no matter. Maybe tomorrow the pack will see and they'll be on my side for once.

Not even Jacob understands, someone, the only one, who I expected would.

Bella is his Sam in many ways. Someone so close but yet so far away. Sometimes I wonder why he even puts up with it.

May 18th

This is exactly why I don't stick up for people. Fuck! I get a little snappy at Isabella for playing with _my_ Alpha's emotions and then _I'm_ the fucking bad guy.

The son of a bitch had me out in the woods patrol for sixteen hours straight for making him look bad in front of his precious leech lover.

Maybe I should just let her tear his heart out and feed it too the bloodsuckers.

May 23rd

I cried today - again. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes it's blinding. When will it stop?

May 24th

I refuse to cry any more. I am going to get out of bed, get dressed and go make some friends around town.

Maybe I'll find someone just as depressing as me to hang out with. That way we'll be able to trade stories of heartbreak without 'inconveniencing' anyone else, especially my pack.

But it's still raining.

Maybe I'll try tomorrow.

...

Jacob woke to the gentle tapping on the bedroom door. He'd wondered when he'd fallen asleep, sheet marks tattooed across his cheek and a crumbled page of the journal next to his head.

"Hey," Seth whispered, popping his head through the door and looking over his Alpha.

Jacob's hair was in disarray, his eyes were marked deeply from the lack of sleep and his clothes were a rumpled mess.

"I made up a mattress for you down the hall if you want to get some winks. Mum wants me to clean out Leah's room."

"Really, so soon?" Jacob asked, scratching his head and doing his own once over of his friend.

Seth looked tired, really tired and the stabbing pain of guilt came back into his chest knowing that the young boy was never going to see his older sister again.

Seth spoke in a whisper but he heard every word. "Mom cries when she walks past the room. And sometimes she just sits in the hallway, afraid to walk past the door. She says she can still feel Leah's presence in the room, on her stuff, even her scent. I have to get rid of it otherwise my mother is going to break down every morning."

Clearing his throat, Jacob stood from the sleeping bag that had been sprawled across the floor. "She's grieving Seth. I'm sure she'll get over it."

He sucked his lips in and shook his head almost immediately. He hadn't meant for the words to come out so carelessly harsh. He didn't use a tone as such but words like those were fighting words to a family mourning.

"Get out," Seth snarled quietly, pointing to the stairs. "I don't need you here."

Slipping past his pack brother, he tried to apologise. "Look Seth - that sounded kinda harsh, I know. But with all the vampires running around-"

"Are you fucking serious right now, Black? You want to talk about this _now_? I don't give a flying fuck about the damn vampires after your precious Bella. My sister is dead okay? So leave! Get out and don't come back until you have something more to say to me than how you need to protect Bella and have the guys cover more ground patrolling. She is choosing to die with Edward! My sister didn't have that luxury. I have a funeral to plan Jacob."

"Seth man, I'm sorry, I fucked up-" Jacob tried to plead only to have Seth shake his head and turn away.

"You know what gets me the most Jake. Not one of you tried to hold her hand. Not one of you got down on your knees and told her it was going to be okay. Not one of you comforted her knowing that I couldn't. You all stood there like fucking zombies just watching. She may have been a pain in the ass but she didn't deserve that, Jacob. Not from her pack brothers, not from Sam and especially not from _you_."

Tears where streaking down Seth's cheeks as he closed the door to Leah's room and left Jacob standing in the hall, alone and guilty, with a journal that suddenly felt like a ten tonne brick of shame.

...

"Are you alright Jake? How are you coping?" Rachel asked as she slid down on the couch next to her brother.

She'd finally left her room and sent Paul away. The jackass had been coaxing her out of bed and telling her it would all be okay. He'd even managed to run his big mouth, saying she'd be the only one on the reservation who would miss Leah Clearwater.

Rachel had been unable to neither bite her tongue nor quell her anger. Once the door was opened she hurled the glass snow globe across the room, targeted straight at him. Her fists had soon followed, her screams at him to leave and never come back trailing after.

That had been two hours ago, and now that she was somewhat calm she wanted to ask Jake about how everything happened. How Leah ended up where she did - how she died.

"I don't know Rach. It's weird. I feel like my wolf knows something is wrong but - I just - I don't know if I feel anything."

"You're in shock Jake, it happens." She whispered, throwing an arm around her six foot seven baby brother to comfort him. Even though he was the true Alpha he was still by all means a teenager. A teenage boy who had been thrown into a world he hadn't chosen.

"Tell me a story about her Rach - maybe something from when before she changed," he asked quietly.

Taking a deep breath Rachel sighed. "There's not really much to tell Jake. I thought that you might know her more than me. She was part of your pack, not mine. Maybe you should ask Sam?"

"I can't stomach Sam at the moment. All he does is cry. He and Emily are in pieces."

"Serves them right," his sister hissed lowly to herself.

"That's a bit harsh don't you think?"

"Harsh?" Rachel questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"You're okay with what Sam did aren't you?" she whispered watching his face closely.

When he didn't speak she gained her answer.

"Oh my God! You're on _Sam's_ side" she accused, shooting up from the couch and pointing a disapproving finger at him.

Huffing Jacob rubbed a hand over his face. "Sam imprinted Rach. He had no choice."

"Why exactly did you take Leah into your pack, Jake?"

"She - was just _there_. She wouldn't leave without Seth and I couldn't protect Bella alone."

"Becca was right", Rachel sneered, her face scrunching in disgust. "Bella is the _only_ thing you care about. There are other people besides that _girl_ in the world. I wonder if it would have been me instead of Leah. I wonder if you still would feel nothing."

"Come on Rach! You know that's not true!"

"Lying doesn't suit you, Jacob. It never has."

...

May 28th

Have you ever had a dream where nothing feels real, only to wake up and know you're still in an alternate world? Well Journal, we do now.

Jacob and I sat on the couch today.

We didn't talk because I had the feeling it had something to do with the leech lover and let's be honest - that shit doesn't fly with me.

So there we sat. Side by side. Not a word spoken for a whole hour.

It was strange. But nice. And a far cry better from being alone.

Maybe Jacob will come over tomorrow again while Seth's at school? Maybe he won't.

Either way, I just needed to tell someone. Anyone. Myself.

May 31st

This is going to sound really weird but I think Jacob is bigger than Sam. Like - height wise and stuff. And in wolf form. I wasn't looking, I swear. Just an observation. No biggie.

June 3rd

Dinner was a disaster. I am never cooking again. Jacob said it was nice but he was totally lying. His left eye flutters a little when he lies.

Another observation.

I swear I don't look at him all day long, I just saw it out the corner of my eye.

June 15th

Cliff diving was amazing today. The whole pack needed a cool off after all the training we've been going through with the bloodsuckers. I wonder if the mind rapist has ever jumped off a cliff.  
>Seriously, if Bella isn't impressed by the way Jacob does it, she's not a hot blooded woman. Or whatever.<p>

Note to self: Why are Jake's teeth so straight? Damn him.

June 16th

GOD! I wish I could punch Jacob Black right in his perfect teeth. I am so sick of hearing about Bella and her stupidity.

Though I did end up forgiving him as we sat on the couch. I didn't actually say anything, and he didn't ask to be forgiven, but I know he was silently asking for it.

I could tell.

June 18th

Jacob smiled today. He seemed happy. I think it was an actual, genuine smile. It made me want to smile too.

But I didn't. Because I don't. Not anymore. Not after Sam.

I wonder, do you forget how to smile if you don't do it for a long time? Or is it like a bike; once you know, you know?

...

Jacob stretched out in the bed knowing that today would hurt. His friend Seth was hurting so badly that the kid still hadn't picked up the phone to return any of his apology calls.

His black shirt and pants had been laid out on the bed, no doubt by Rachel and he dreaded having to walk into the small hall.

From the moment he hoped into the shower things began to blur as if in fast forward.

From dressing, eating breakfast to helping his dad into the truck and arriving at their destination.

A lot of people had shown up but he knew only family and close friends would be allowed into the hall during the ceremony, the speeches and the words of love from those who knew her best.

He could feel the thickness of the air pressing down against his throat and he wanted to hurl. The smell of death was so vivid in his senses he could barely smell the plucked lavender stems that littered small pots around the seats. Small white booklets had been placed on the wooden chairs, photocopied, not strange considering the income for most of the families on the reservation.

Flipping through the booklet he felt his throat dry. The pictures, while in black and white, seemed vivid and haunting as if she were standing in front of him or as if he had stepped back in time.

The first; a small candid shot of Leah as a toddler. Her arms reaching high above the lens, being held by the adult whose stocky legs seemed to take up the background of the shot.

Her dress was white, soft toddler shoes covering her small feet, her hair strung in piggy tails on the side of her head. And that smile. It just about stole Jacob's breath right from his chest.

The second was of Leah in middle school. Her dark green collared uniform looked soft against her flawless skin. Her hair was strung back now, a thin cotton tie holding the hair from her face, which seemingly extenuated her cheek bones. Her grin was lopsided, her headphones dangling from her ears with a guy behind her in the same uniform. Even though the boy had been cut out of the photo it didn't take a genius to realise it was Sam.

And the last.

_Whoa_.

The last was like looking at a completely different person compared to the other photos. He wasn't sure when it was taken but there was something so vulnerable about her eyes. She was looking directly at the camera; as if she was almost looking at him. Her hair was down this time, ruffling across her face, showing her unconvincing smile.

Had she really fallen so low not one of them noticed?

He wondered why now he felt the need to take the burden of her happiness upon his shoulders. He had his own shit to deal with. He wanted to, but he could barely save himself from drowning in the endless pit of darkness.

Sitting in the pews listening to Seth speak about his sister so passionately didn't even make him flinch like he should have. He should have cried; he should have apologised to Sue, apologised to the pack for messing up. But in reality; Leah was like a supernova.

She was a bright shining star once upon a time, fire rolling around her veins, fire rolling through her belly with the will and want life had given her.

But one trigger, one small emotion had let it all off.

She had burst, her colours bleeding deeply on to everything around her, before it was all sucked back in and lost inside a black hole, casting nothing but Iron around them.

Iron, to trap their bleeding hearts.

Iron, to trap the memory of her and of this moment in time.

A black hole is what his chest felt like, forever empty, forever drowning and free floating.

Swallowing planets, destroying lives; that's what he had become.

His emotions where shot, his body ached and his head hurt so badly. The guilt had manifested and grew into something unmanageable and unbearable.

She had frozen him, even in death.

And it only became clear once he threw his jacket on the ground and walked toward his room to read the very last entry in her journal.

...

June 23rd

I'm so stupid. So fucking stupid. How could I ever let myself fall in love with him? Why me?

Fuck! He's in love with Isabella Swan for Christ sake.

Damn, this is going to kill me.

...

She was in love with him. _Had_ been in love with him.

He'd let her down. He'd killed her. Like every part of him was now destroyed.

So now, all that he was left with in the dark bedroom of his humble home; was a black hole in his chest... and an iron heart.

AN - *squee* That is all.


	10. J

AlphaBet(a)

...

J is for Jet

...

2 ft. 5 ft. 8 ft. It didn't matter. It never mattered.

The sun had yet to rise but the scent of salt, burned palm mixed with smoke and ash from the previous night's bonfire lingered.

Her legs were straddled over her long board as she watched the water. Her hands slowly stroking along the length of the water as if it were a lover.

A long time ago she concluded the ocean and men were very much the same.

Allow them an inch and they would take a mile. They were wild beasts, untamed and uncontrollable like the surf. They could break you and make you feel like you were drowning inside of them, pulsating for breath while they hammered into you. To show them no love and no grace, sooner or later you would flail under the power of the ocean, cringe under its strength, ripped by the waves, thrown from the board and smashed against the jagged rocks from the swirling silent blue hues of the under current.

_But_, treat them with respect, with love, and you were able to harness that pure energy and use it as Chi, use it as the extra push at the end of a race, the extra momentum to get over the line.

To watch them, study them and learn them would bring you closer. After a while, a man like the ocean could be predicated, like a forecast, you could anticipate the steps of a man, his motivations, his moods, his wants and most of all, his needs.

5:36 am.

"Where are you, you son of a bitch?"

Her voice moved over the dark liquid of the ocean, rippling and strumming as if it were an instrument waiting for the conductor's instruction. Awaiting the perfect note. Waiting to be played perfectly.

Perfection had become such an inaugural part of her life. Mistakes purely meant injury and possible death. Anything less than perfection would leave her with nothing.

It was tradition, almost as if it were her own heritage to be here. _Here_, where the cold water held her by her knees, where it lapped against her freshly waxed board, where the wind swirled through her hair, brushing it across her shoulders.

There were no sounds but the slow drawl of her breath and the subtle rustle of waves. Waves not big enough to ride. That was - not until the wind came and the swells turned.

At 5:38 am the south east winds changed, and she pulled the nose of her board to face the shore. Her eyes scanned the shore quickly, checking the water around her. With the sun just breaking over the horizon, she was one of only a few in the water, padding its swirling ripples, waiting for the perfect wave.

Her hands clutched tightly against the front of the board, her back straight and her elbows bent.

She remembered back on the first time she'd come to Neah Bay as an adult. The home she'd come to love over the past six years. The place that had somehow pieced her back together.

Her parent's accident had left her with a gaping hole in her chest, an indescribable ache that crawled under her skin, day in and day out. So many memories left playing on her mind, so many childhood memories filtered and played like an old film roll, which continued on, even when her eyes closed at night.

This place with all its serenity and wonder had somehow managed to place a fine film of plastic over the wound, stunting and stopping the painful flow. The place, the weather, its people with their welcoming smiles and carefree rigour - it _all_ helped.

But it was _this_. Where she was now that gave her strength, gave her power to be someone else, someone _more_.

Paddling in slowly she watched the waves as they began to stir and rumble, the white wash of the moving liquid mountains starting to break.

Taking a deep breath her eyes narrowed spotting the rolling thunders begin on the glistening horizon.

They were finally here.

...

Stabbing her board into the sand, she meandered over to the showers, intent on washing the salt from her skin. Pulling the band from her hair, she adjusted the rubber to her wrist and opened the taps. Washing her hair quickly, she ringed the wetness from her tresses and re-tied her hair. Messy but practical, and a hell of a lot easier than actually doing something with it.

Her wet suit clung to her like a second skin, like it was alive and she could wait to get out of it and changed into something warm.

"Nice surf_,_" a deep voice rumbled, standing next to her board to inspect the laminated and waxed wood. "Looks like you could use a new board though. Why don't you stop by 'Billy's' later and maybe we could work something out?"

Glancing at the man she raised a brow. She knew of _Billy's_ shop, she'd hung around it for years as a kid before her parents were gone. "That's in LaPush, right?" she asked as she gathered her items and unzipped the suit at her neck.

"Yeah," he grinned cockily as he stuck his own board in the sand. "You know it?"

Leah couldn't help but roll her eyes at his statement, plucking her board and heading towards her car.

"So you'll come by later right?" Jacob yelled after her, cupping his mouth to be heard.

"Sorry," she said as she turned, shrugging her shoulders, "I don't do LaPush."

Frowning, Jacob stepped to walk after her but thought better of it. He didn't know what she meant by 'she didn't _do_ LaPush.'

Hell, anyone who was anyone _did_ LaPush.

With technique as good as hers, she had to be a local. She didn't look Hawaiian and he would have guessed from the accent if she were. Nah. She was definitely native. He'd have to ask his cousins about her later. Sam and Emily knew everyone from these parts. They were like social butterflies. Running the only local bar probably helped. He knew as well as anyone about the bullshit that he dribbled when he was hitting the drinks. Others usually didn't fair too well either.

Shaking his head and focusing back on the task at hand, he pulled his board from the sand and made his way down to the surf.

...

"So she was all like 'Oh Quil baby, right there, right there," Quil mocked in a high pitched voice as he thrust his hips up out of the chair and held the sides of an invisible person. "And I was like 'Yeah, you like that right? You filthy bitch," he continued, turning his voice into a deep drawl as he re-enacted the former nights activities.

"You're so full of shit, Ateara," Embry scoffed as he through a tea towel across the table. "Kim would never give it up to you."

"That's where you're wrong bro. I had her screaming, moaning and clawing the shit out of me. She's a bad kitty cat that one. Foul little mouth too," Quil smirked back as he took another sip of his beer and relaxed back into his chair.

Jacob sat back and watched his two friends argue, insults being thrown left right and centre just to outdo the other. It was another Friday night at 'The Jet', the small beach bar his cousin Sam owned with his wife. Paper lanterns hung from the long deck out to the palm trees on the grass. With the beach only twenty or so feet from the grass, it was a nice, quaint little spot.

Friday nights were always the best. They were officially labelled 'Ladies Night' which the three took great advantage of. All the local girls would hang out, get uber shitfaced, dirty dance with them and most of the time take them home and feed them breakfast in the morning. It was a good life for the LaPush boys.

"How's Ness?" Embry asked delicately as Emily brought over another round for the boys.

Giving them a firm glare to behave she allowed Jacob a light squeeze on the shoulder.

"Thanks Em," Jacob grinned looking up at his cousin's wife. Emily was good for Sam, the nice wholesome yet sassy little woman to keep him in line.

Tossing his empty beer into a nearby bin he popped the cap on the fresh brew and turned his attention back to his friends. "She's alright I guess. Still pissed off that I won't side with daddy dearest on the ceremony," he shrugged not really wanting to talk about the whole wedding mess.

He'd been with his fiancé for a little over a year since meeting her in California at one of the surfing comps. A little red headed firecracker that moved faster than a freight train.

It was exciting a first; going places he'd never been, living in California and partying hard on weekends with famous people. But somehow, it had all gotten too fast and too hard. City life wasn't for him, with the fast paced talkers and the bullshit personas that ran around the place. Even their engagement and upcoming ceremony seemed ridiculously ludicrous.

Ness had her life planned out perfectly. The big house, the kids, the Mercedes in the drive and now she expected him to fill the quota of trophy husband and have his ideals and dreams slot into hers. Reflect _hers_.

He missed this. Missed living in LaPush; close to his sisters and nephews, missed Neah Bay and the trips he and his two best friends would make, missed the surf and the freedom he felt in the cold dark water before sunrise. Mostly he just missed being himself.

Renesmee's father and mother had worked out some hair brained idea about the ceremony. Big, glitzy and downright pretentious like theirs had been. Photos needed to be taken on their country property, sent to the LA Times and plastered all over town to announce the big day. Jacob didn't want a big ceremony; he'd actually hoped that he and Renesmee could get married in LaPush in the spring, with his father and extended family. She hadn't even met them and she was already trying to stuff him into a tux.

"White will look great on you," Quil grinned cheekily knowing how whipped Jacob actually was. Ness wore the pants in their relationship for sure.

After a few more beers and a round of shots later, Jacob found himself leaning on the railing and listening to the wave's crash just beyond the light of the bar. The night was cool but not enough to be over dressed in more than some cargo shorts and a tee.

"Hey," a sweet voice announced from behind him.

Turning slightly Jacob gave a short smile when he noticed his visitor. "Hey."

Her hair was down, the dark ends curling around her shoulders to flick under her chin and back. In a white sundress and sandals she looked simple yet agonizingly beautiful. Her hazel eyes shone from the garden lights reflection and the shimmer of her lips did not go unnoticed. Had he been a single man he would have flirted with her, got her drunk and tried to take her home.

"Sorry about this morning," she mumbled as she tapped a beer against his forearm as an apology.

Taking the drink Jacob chuckled as he looked down at the bottle. "You're buying me a drink?"

"Well, yeah." she said, rolling her eyes at the fake surprise on his face. "Never had a girl buy you a drink?"

Taking a sip he grinned. "Not unless she was trying to see me naked."

Leah laughed, shaking her head and glancing back inside to a group of rowdy looking girls. "I better go; my friends are waiting for me."

"So soon? You're not even going to enjoy a drink with me?" Jacob said, feigning a pout.

Glancing back at her friends who were waiving her over she sighed. "Maybe later."

"You know, you still haven't told me your name."

Stopping short, Leah turned and smirked but didn't answer as she walked backwards before joining her friends again.

...

"You alright, Jake?" Emily asked as she stopped to check on Jacob who was helping pack up the bar for the night. He seemed down, his thoughts far away as he wiped the inside of the glasses with a check red tea towel.

"Huh? Oh yeah Em. Fine," he sighed.

Snatching the glass from his hands Emily placed it on the bench and crossed her arms, her eyebrow cocked in challenge. "Don't lie to me Jacob Black. You've been cleaning that glass for the last ten minutes like some kind of mindless zombie. What's going on with you?" Emily's voice softened as she pulled up a stool beside him. "You can talk to me, Jake."

Running his hands through his hair Jacob groaned and closed his eyes, not knowing where to begin. "I don't know. I just - this whole wedding thing."

"You don't want to get married?" Emily quizzed.

"No, it's not that. I want to get married. I just don't know if it's Ness I want to spend my life with. I mean, she's just so-"

"Such a spoilt brat?" Emily suggested having met the five-foot-nothing terror.

"What?" Jacob frowned as he looked over to see his cousin's wife glaring at a glass. "I thought you liked Ness?"

Huffing Emily rolled her eyes. "I only liked her because _you_ liked her Jacob. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable so I just mostly ignored her. Look Jacob, you want the truth - the truth is, it doesn't matter what the rest of us think, the only thing that matters is what _you_ think. If you think you should marry her, do it. If you don't want to marry her, then don't. The world doesn't revolve around Renesmee and it definitely won't stop without her."

"Hm. I just, it's a big step, you know," Jacob sighed as he shook his head. "I should be sure, right?"

Ruffling his hair, Emily smiled. "You shouldn't marry someone because you can live with them. You should marry them because you can't live without them."

"How do you and Sam do it? You guys are so good together and just so happy all the time," Jacob asked.

"It's hard work Jake. Sam and I argue just like everyone else. He leaves the toilet seat up and I want to beat him over the head with a fry pan. He dislikes things I do too, don't get me wrong. It's a two way street. But at the end of the day, when it's just Sam and I, there is no place I'd rather be."

...

Walking along the sand with the moon light at his back Jacob Black contemplated his future.

He missed this place with its serene calm, so he took the opportunity to think about his life and the steps he would take next. If anyone asked if he was happy his answer would not be a straight forward yes. It was a feeling more similar to being content. He was fine with the life he had in California with Renesmee, but was unsure how long _contentment_ would actually last.

He, like every man, didn't want to wake up, ten, twenty, _thirty_ years from now and regret all the life he'd lived. He didn't want to wake up to children who didn't know him, a wife that hadn't worked a day in her life, and in a job that her father had supplied for him.

Feeling the lap of the wave at his ankles Jacob looked up from the sand and out onto the water. It was colder now, but his skin still felt warm, his blood taking naturally to the frigid like conditions. The moonlight shone harshly on the water, turning the dark endless silk into an almost blue and silver shimmer.

"It's kind of creepy that you're out here all alone," a familiar voice sounded behind him from a cluster of jagged rocks.

Rolling his eyes he glanced up at the figure hovering dangerously near the edge of the rocks. "I could say the same thing about you," he grinned as more of the surf washed over his toes.

Looking down, the dark haired beauty smiled at him and took another sip of her beer, placing it on the rocks before stretching her arms up over her head. Watching her there triggered a familiar punch to the gut. He was sure he knew her from somewhere but his mind still hadn't shuffled through all the memories and given him confirmation of such a fact.

"Your friends left you alone on the beach?" he asked as he watched her stand and balance on the balls of her feet.

Shrugging, she rolled her shoulders and looked down at him. "They've gone to a party in LaPush. But like I said-"

"You don't _do_ LaPush," Jacob finished, earning himself a glare for repeating her earlier words. Brushing off the glare he looked out to see the waves crash before gently rolling towards him. "Why is that?"

Scrunching her face she turned to take another sip of her drink, "That's just the way it is. I don't like it there. It brings back too many memories."

"Are you Quileute?" Jacob asked, his interest spiking at her admission. Gaining no reply he nodded. "You're from around here, aren't you? I don't remember you so you must have moved a long time ago." Jacob didn't remember ever seeing her in Tribal School and he would have known if families on the reservation had kids attending other schools off the reservation or out of state. Gossip reigned supreme.

Ignoring his question she tugged off her sandals. "You're last name is Black, right?"

Frowning Jacob nodded, "How did you know that?"

"I asked around."

"You asked about me?" Jacob said, unable to keep the cocky grin off his face.

"Yup."

"Hmm, so you _do_ want to see me naked," he smiled wiggling his eyebrows.

Glancing at him, she feigned boredom. "There are worse things in this world, I guess."

Her eyes scanned the water below and he felt a clench in his stomach. "You planning to jump from there?" Jacob asked nervously, not liking at all the fact that someone with close to no experience was about to jump down into the icy water.

"Maybe," the dark haired beauty grinned as she tugged at the edge of her dresses straps. "Why? Are you afraid?"

"You have been kind of drinking," he motioned to the bottle which sat at her feet, "and the rocks are pretty hard to navigate if you're not from around here. Plus being a gir-"

With her head snapping towards him, a look close to anger passed through her eyes. "You think girls can't jump off your stupid rocks?" she growled, knotting her hair in a bun and stepping towards the edge of the rock face. The balls of her feet steadied dangerously on the last rock, her arms splayed in the wind like the famous statue in Rio.

"Fuck," Jacob growled, tugging off his shirt and running toward the water, knowing there was no way he was going to talk her down from jumping and that the better option would just be to rescue her once she hit the cold surf. Keeping his eyes on her he watched as her feet pushed off and her arms came together, her body bending perfectly before angling straight so her fingers and wrists hit the water first.

The water was so cold and jumping in felt as though a million tiny needles were piercing his skin. Coming up from the water and taking a deep breath Jacob swam as fast as he could toward the water below the rocks. The underwater world seemed surreal. It was dark and silent; sinister even.

Treading water he glanced around not seeing anything coming up out of the water. He was sure she'd be up by now. If not, something was terribly wrong.

"Hey," he called out frantically, treading through the thick rough water to try and find the woman whose name he still did not know. "This isn't funny anymore."

He was met with nothing but silence as his eyes scanned the dark water. "Seriously!"

"Actually, it kind of is," a voice said from behind him making him whip around. She was grinning from ear to ear, pleased with herself immensely.

Rolling his eyes Jacob headed back to the shore.

"Hey, come on. I was only kidding. You think I'd really jump from those rocks if I didn't know what I was doing?" she shouted after him only to be ignored.

Jacob couldn't believe she actually thought this was funny. She could have died for Christ sake. He'd dived in after her - a complete stranger.

Getting out of the water he trudged towards his clothes and through the shirt back on. Turning he found her just on his tail, dripping wet. Her hair was matted to the side of her face and the dress she was wearing at 'The Jet' was now officially see through and tempting as fuck.

"I'm Leah by the way," she offered her hand and name in apology.

Grunting Jacob took it and shook roughly, "Yeah. Great."

"So I'll see you around?" she asked hopefully making him freeze and turn to her.

With his eyes softening he nodded his head. "Sure _Leah_. I'll see you around."

...

"Nice ride," Jacob grinned as Leah plonked down beside him in the sand.

Ringing the water from her hair she laughed, "Thanks."

"The board looks good on you," he said smugly as he through an arm around her shoulder. After seeing her board a few months back he knew she needed one desperately. He'd also known of her insane dislike for going into LaPush to his father's joint to get a new one. So instead, he'd made one especially for her. His father had done most of the work but Leah didn't have to know that.

"Dork," she snorted, pushing his arm off her shoulders and brushing the sand off her wet suit.

"Aw. You hurt my feelings. You have to kiss them better now." he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Blushing, Leah glanced down at his left hand.

"As soon as the ring comes off your finger, I may just do that."

Jacob frowned and tucked his hand away.

"It's okay. I understand." Leah smiled softly, tugging his ever growing hair behind his ear.

"I'm going to tell her this week. I swear. I just - I don't want to hurt her feelings," he blanched as he looked at Leah apologetically.

She knew about Ness. Hell, she almost knew everything about him. Ever since the night on the rocks, months ago, they'd almost been inseparable. It felt as though she'd known him her whole life. And everything about their friendship was easy yet oh-so complicated.

"You should tell her Jacob. As much as I like you, you're kind of being an asshole by stringing her along. No girl, no matter how evil, deserves that kind of treatment." She said softly as she patted his forearm.

"Yeah, I know," he whispered as he tugged a palm through his locks. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right," she grinned trying to lighten the mood, ruffling his hair. "Do the right thing Jacob."

"Easier said than done," he grumbled.

...

California felt too hot. The sun too bright, even with the sunglasses he wore. Unlocking the door to the apartment he shared with Renesmee he strode inside and threw his duffle bag on the floor. Empty beer bottles littered the counter top even though the place was pristine. It wasn't uncommon for her to have friends over every night of the week and it seemed last night was no exception.

Throwing the keys to his jeep onto the counter, he pulled a rubbish bag from the drawer and began filling it up and running some soapy water in the sink. Doing a quick walk around Jacob tidied as much as he could and soaked some of the wine and lipstick stained glasses in the water.

"Hey," he muttered as he turned and noticed her standing in the arch of the doorway. Her red curls hung loosely around her face and she currently had the most unattractive scowl he'd ever seen on her face.

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in," she glared as he tied off the rubbish bag and rested it against the cabinet door. "I didn't think you were coming back."

Glancing up Jacob offered her only a tiny smile. "Sit down, we need to talk."

Taking a seat at the dining table, Jacob waited until she eventually sat across from him. She looked frustrated, annoyed even.

"Daddy said this would happen," she mocked as she crossed her arms across her tiny frame. "He said you'd admit to having one last roll in the hay with some random woman and then come crawling back."

"Crawling back?" Jacob chuckled as he twisted the band on his finger.

"He said you'd need to just get it out of your system and then we could get married. Mother has already sent out the invitations. At least there is still time to get your suit made. We can never find your size in the stores."

"Renesmee... Ness... stop," he said gently as he pulled the ring from his finger and laid the metal atop the table. "I'm sorry, but I can't marry you."

"What?" she whispered, her cheeks turning pink and her eyes glazing over.

"I _won't_ marry you." He explained carefully. "You don't need me, Ness. You've got your life planned out. And it's a perfect life. For _you_." Taking her shaking hand he took a deep breath. "I don't want to plan the rest of my life out. I just want it to happen as it comes. I want the uncertainty. The mystery of tomorrow. I want to write my own future and not just be a part of yours."

"But Jake, Daddy said-"

Sighing, Jacob rolled his eyes in frustration. She was twenty four years old and she still couldn't grasp the idea of having to think outside of her parents ideals.

"_Ness_. You really need to stop listening to him. It's your life. The world does not begin and end with Edward Cullen. Look," he sighed taking her hand and placing the ring inside it. "I love you but you need to start doing what's best for you. Not your father. Do what makes you happy."

"But _you_ make me happy, Jake. Please, don't do this to us. I love you," she howled, trying to tug his wrist closer.

"You'll find someone Ness. Someone who wants what you want. Who loves you as much as you think you love me."

Pulling his hand away, Jacob stood from the chair and walked over to his ex-fiancé. Grasping her curls and head carefully, he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Bye, honey."

...

"Emily, what are we doing here?" Leah asked as they pulled up in front of 'The Jet'. "I thought it was your day off?"

Taking off her belt Emily only smiled and shook her head. "I have a surprise for you."

"Great," Leah mumbled, "I hate surprises."

Leah slinked behind as Emily led her around the side of the establishment. She could admit, Emily wasn't bad as a friend. Meeting her through Jacob and learning she'd married his cousin was a surprise but Leah kept tight-lipped. Jacob was good enough to share his friends with her after all, and she wasn't about to turn down anyone's friendship.

"Close your eyes," Emily said turning back to look at her.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Leah moaned as she lulled her head back.

"Please?"

"Fine. But only because you make one Hell of a Mojito," Leah smirked as she took hold of Emily's out stretched hand. "Which reminds me, you owe me one for this little stunt."

Walking a few meters Leah felt Emily stop and place her hands upon her shoulders. "Now turn around."

"What is this? You better not have gotten me a stripper!" she fumed, having told Emily it was her birthday a few days ago.

"See," she heard a husky deep voice whisper. "I _knew_ you wanted to see me naked."

Opening her eyes she squealed and hugged the giant statured man in front of her.

"Jake," she whispered against his neck, burying her face there. "Did you do it?"

Nodding his head he grinned, his left hand cupping her face and rubbing his warm thumb over her jaw.

"I did," he whispered, pressing his lips against hers for the very first time, knowing, it wouldn't be the last.


	11. K

AlphaBet(a)

...

K is for Keeper

...

The alcohol seemed to be endless as the party raged on until the early hours of the morning. The lounge room looked more like a battlefield, bodies spread out, some face down while others made out in corners of the room, the music somewhat hiding the sound of the carnal moaning taking place.

Rebecca was off enjoying some precious time to hook up with her loser ex-boyfriend and his other sister Rachel spent the remaining hours of darkness arguing with her slutty friends about the best way to wear as little as possible out of the house without their parents knowing.

Jacob groaned as he shifted his backpack and guitar case higher up onto his shoulder looking over the mess. It was Friday morning and his twin sisters thought it would be fun to have a party the night before. A goddamn party in the middle of the school week. Some people never grew up.

Both his parents had taken themselves to a swanky ranch to relax and have their adult time away to make it an extra-long weekend for them. His sisters, who had only started college in the fall, had become somewhat the local hotshots at Seattle University and he was often subjected to the onslaught of their holier than thou friends.

The house was fairly big and he only hoped it was big enough to sneak out without rousing his sibling's attention. Even his brother Sam had come back for a couple of weeks; his football contract still being stitched together by his agent.

He'd been half asleep when Sam walked in and announced his arrival. He'd tried to stay awake but only managed a fist bump and a groan. The bags under his eyes were already so deep from trying to finish the last of his assignments for the advanced classes he was taking.

Slipping his shoulder bags through the door first he managed a fairly impossible escape over the piles of bodies or - whatever they were. Letting out a sigh he closed the door softly and turned to run down the steps. Embry would be pulling up to the curb, beeping that unbelievably loud horn that belonged to the vintage VW Wagon.

Lime green, rusted bumper, various concert stickers peeling off the back wind-

"Hey."

Jacob tripped on the last step sending him face first into the gravel driveway. Fire exploded on his chin and his eyes scrunched from the burning pain.

"Holy shit! Are you okay?" The voice was soft but raspy, tones almost like a jazz singer.

Pushing himself up off the drive he felt the loose rocks dig into his palms. It hurt but nothing could take away the pain in his chin. He could feel the stranger's hands pulling at one of his arms to help him up but he felt so ashamed he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. How could he have missed the person who'd been sitting atop the railing, when he himself had sat in the same spot countless times?

"Fine, I'm fine." He grunted, turning over carefully and sitting on the gravel. He dusted off his hands as he looked up at the stranger. He swore he could hear his own heart in his chest.

"You don't look fine to me," she mused, crouching down in front of him and resting her forearms on her thighs.

He blinked a couple of times, the urge to rub them itching at his palms. She was cute - scratch that - she was beautiful, gorgeous even. Her black ink hair was short, styled into some kind of a pixie cut. Her big hazel eyes were bright and wondering over him. Her lips were full, kissable, and her skin was a deep olive tan. Similar to his own, though a few shades lighter.

"Come on, let's get you up," she smiled, making him wince a little from the tight pull in his chest, more notably around his heart.

After helping him up, she bent to grasp his bag and guitar case.

"Thanks," he muttered his head down and his fingers rubbing over the graze on his chin. It stung, a lot, but he tried to brush it off knowing she was watching him.  
>It felt strange being so close to her, being able to smell the leather of her jacket and the slight lingering smell of apples that radiated from her hair.<p>

"You sure you're okay?" she whispered, placing her hand against his shoulder and rubbing lightly.

Jacob was so stunned by her touch he almost fell back.

"See. You're not okay. Sit down here. _Now_"

Not wanting to argue, he nodded and let her guide him toward the grass. Placing him down on the grass he could feel her eyes burning into his hair, waiting for him to say something. He wanted to say many things - ask many things. Like who was she, why was she sitting on the railings, was she a friend or his stupid sisters or-

"Your brother does the same thing," she smiled, sitting down on the grass to rest her forearms on her knees and clasp her fingers together.

"Huh?" Jacob replied, biting down on his lip soon after realising he sounded like a stupid kid. At seventeen he was far from being a kid. He only had to finish out the year and he'd be free.

"Sam. He does the same thing." She motioned with her hand, pressing two of her fingers between his brows. "Stop thinking so hard. You're going to age much too soon."

Feeling her fingers rubbing against his forehead felt nice. _Really_ nice. There was something so soft about the gesture, so intimate.

"There you go," she laughed, patting his knee. "All better"

Jacob hadn't realised he'd closed his eyes until they opened. Clearing his throat and extending his hand to her, he spoke. "Jacob," he smiled, loving the feel of her hand in his own.

"I know who you are Jacob. Youngest of four children. Guitar extraordinaire. Favourite subject History. Fluent in Quileute. Quiet. Placid. Very handsome."

Jacob was gobsmacked with her rendition. "Who told you all that?" his eyes searched her face and she stared toward the oncoming VW Wagon pulling into the curb.

"Your brother," she sighed, wiping a hand over her face. Noticing a tall lanky guy waving at her from the wagon she waved back pulling a 'narly' sign toward the end.

"You know my brother?" he asked incredulously, jealousy itching against his skin.

"Unfortunately," she replied rolling her eyes and getting up from the grass. She dusted her hands against her jeans before extending a hand to help him up. "You're going to be late. You better get going."

Slinging his guitar case and backpack on to his shoulder, he smiled. "Thanks." Taking a step toward the wagon Jacob stopped and turned back around. "Will I see you again?"

The beautiful woman grinned but shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe."

Walking backwards so he could keep his eyes trained on her he smirked. "Maybe?" he asked quietly almost of himself. "Yeah okay, I can accept that. Maybe then."

She laughed as he gave her a little bow before bounding in the wagon, she managing to return the same sentiment.

"Friend of yours?" Embry asked smugly as he pulled out back on the road, allowing his gaze to rest on the rear view mirror to linger over the incredibly fuckable piece of ass on the Black's front lawn.

"Uh... I guess," Jacob shrugged not really sure what they were to each other. Friends? Acquaintances? He rolled his eyes realising he hadn't even gotten her name.

"She's hot bruh... I _like_ her."

Jacob groaned and rolled his eyes. "You like everything with tits" he chilled back.

"_This_ - is true," Embry breathed out a laugh, slapping his big hand on the roof and tapping his fingers to the beat of the drums playing on the old car's cassette player.

"You really need to update your music man." Angling the guitar, Jacob through the case into the back and shifted to get comfortable in the old worm out chair.

"No messing with the music," Embry tisked, tapping the dashboard to which his Poison album was playing from. "Obviously you don't know the first thing about music. If you can't appreciate the sounds of 'classics' like these, you are never going to be able to play that thing right."

Jacob knew Embry was only messing with him. The guy knew how in depth his knowledge ran. "Yeah man, sure," he replied relaxing into the chair and tapping his knuckles against the door, mimicking the strums of the guitar playing. "I'll get on that right away."

...

Walking out to the parking lot after school, Jacob found the side of the wagon open. Not only was it open but on the steps sat _the_ girl - woman - from this morning.

"Hey," he called out trying to act calm and like his heart wasn't suddenly beating in his chest again. Damn, she was really cute.

He watched as she looked up, recognition pooling across her eyes immediately. "Well hey, how's your chin?" she asked standing to her feet and leaning against the door so he could slip his stuff inside the wagon.

Rubbing his chin lightly he grimaced. "Ah - yeah. Still a bit tender but I'll live."

Her eyebrow rose at his comment. She could see with him touching his chin lightly indicating that it still hurt, probably more than he was leading on. "Sit down," she motioned, pointing to the step of the wagon. Feeling slightly amused that he did what she told him to, she took his face in her hands and angled it up. Brushing it softly he winced.

"So you were lying?" she mused, her free hand resting on his shoulder.

"Well not lying per say, just saving you - from the truth." A big grin slid across his face and she couldn't help but smile back. He was cute, very cute. Even if he was seventeen.

"Found it!" Quil shouted, his big head popping from out of the van, a CD dangling in his fingertips. Taking in the sight before his eyes, he groaned and kicked the seat. Jacob always had all that luck with the girls - even if he didn't take up any of their offers.

"Found what?" Jacob asked, turning his head around to take in the sullen face of one of his best friends.

"Nothing," Quil muttered, handing Leah the CD and slumping back into a row of seats.

Jacob looked confused until she showed him what the CD was. His face flooded with terror as he looked at the cover, his hands reaching out to try and pry it from her grip.

"Uh-uh, that's not very gentlemanly of you," Leah mused attempting to step away from him, only to have his hands snatch her back towards him.

"That's not yours, give it back. Damn it Quil, no one is supposed to have these," he growled, trying to catch the CD as she waved it around in the air and away from his grasp.

"Oh come on. I just want a peak," Leah laughed, jumping so Jacob couldn't get to the prize possession.

"Alright, Alright" Jacob surrendered, placing his hands in the air "I'll let you have it, if you give me something."

Raising an eyebrow Leah looked over him suspiciously "Something like what, exactly?"

"Your name. Tell me your name and the CD is yours."

"Hmm," Leah pressed her bottom lip in between her teeth in an attempt to look as if she was contemplating his offer. "That sounds fair."

Walking over Embry threw his bag in through the open door and leaned against the wagon. "Hey - Leah right?" he mused, ignoring Jacob's shocked face. "Long time no see. I thought I recognised that gorgeous face. And that ass... I remember that thing strutting through the hallways of this shitty school. You made a juniors wet dreams come true, my lady." He smirked, taking her hand and kissing the back of her palm gently.

Cocking and eyebrow Leah looked over Embry and it suddenly dawned on her where she'd seen him. "Oh shit! You're Booty _Call_? This guy right here-" Leah said animatedly pointing to Embry "- made a book of all the senior girls' asses. He'd labelled each one of them under a 'do-able' rating. Tell em' Embry," she laughed cocking her head towards Jake and Quil. "Tell em' where I ranked."

"Well-" Embry started, poking his tongue into his cheek and picking up Leah's hand to raise it over her head. "Let's see if I remember." Turning her slowly he scratched at the stubble on his chin, giving Jacob a cheeky grin. "What do you think Jake?"

Jacob knew Embry was teasing him. His best friend could obviously see the blinding infatuation he had with... Leah. It was a pretty name; one he hadn't heard much of around the reservation. "Ahhh..." Jacob spluttered trying to play it down key.

"Definitely a ten right?" his best friend laughed, noticing the flushing of his cheeks.

"Shut up man!" Jacob growled, fisting a hand through his hair.

"He's only playing Jake. We all know it was a ten anyway," Leah grinned, taking Embry's cue to continue the torment.

"Alright guys," Quil pipped up. "We gotta get going y'all. Jacob' sisters parties wait for no one!"

Jacob groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "Another one? It's not even five in the afternoon."

"Sorry Jake," Quil shrugged, jumping into the front seat. "Drunk, sexy, women willing to give it up to teenage studs, wait for no one!"

"Well, this is me guys," Leah smiled, ruffling Jacob's hair. "Have a nice time at the party. I have business to attend."

Jacob noticed the CD she was tapping against her leg. His eyes went wide and he looked up to her with a questioning expression.

"Don't worry Jacob; your CD is safe with me. Once I listen to it, we'll talk again. Maybe my record company will even sign you."

"You own a record company?"

Nodding Leah took a step back and waltzed towards a black town car he hadn't seen before. "Cool huh?" she laughed, cocking her head toward the car before waving a goodbye and sliding in.

Embry sighed as he crossed his arms across his chest, watching as the car pulled away. "That is one fine piece of woman. You better tap that Jake, if not - I call dibs."

"Hey what about me? I was going to call dibs too," Quil called out from the seat as he clicked his safety belt in.

"Shut up idiots. There will be no dibbing," Jacob spat, jumping into the wagon and pulling the sliding door across with enough force to make it slam.

"Touchy," Embry chilled as he strode to the driver's side and headed towards the Black house for the next round of topless dancing and girls with no inhibitions.

...

Jacob sat in his room, guitar in lap, attempting to tune it against a different more subtle note. He could have used a clamp to strain the strings to a higher note but opted against it. He was never one for artificial sounds. He'd always much preferred the acoustic sound compared to the sound of an electric guitar. Acoustic was more subtle, more refined. Acoustic was designed to bare ones soul, lay it out to another and harmonise with a voice.

"You sound better live," Leah grinned, her shoulder propped against the door frame as she clapped softly.

"Oh hey," Jacob muttered shyly, motioning her to come in. "I didn't know I had an audience." His cheeks turned as soft pink colour and it made Leah's stomach flutter.

"Why do you do that?" she asked as he packed his guitar back into the case at the foot of his bed.

"Uh... do what?"

"The blushing thing."

"Just not really use to compliments I guess."

"You're really good. You should take the compliments in stride. You deserve them."

"Sure... whatever you say," he mumbled, zipping the case tightly and resting it against the dresser.

"Say 'Thank you, Leah'."

"Uh... Thanks Leah."

Grinning, Leah licked her lips. "And repeat after me - Yes Leah, your ass is magnificent and I would love to take you out for dinner.'"

"Yes Leah your ass is..." Jacob stopped mid-sentence and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You wanna go to dinner with _me_?"

"Well technically-" she mused, running her fingertips over his wooden dresser which was scattered in guitar picks and music sheets. "I'll be taking _you_. Me adult, you minor."

"Right," Jacob mumbled rolling his eyes at her lame joke. "You know I am legal in most countries right?"

Leah sighed and shook her head. "We're not exactly in other countries are we Jacob? But - you kind of have a point. You are cute and maybe if I just pretend-" she whispered leaning closer, her hands on either sides of his thighs against the bed.

"Leah! Damn! I've been looking for you everywhere," Sam huffed, placing his half-filled beer on the dresser. "Emily's on the phone. She needs to speak to you about some girly shit. I'd be real grateful if you could talk to your cousin. She's driving me up the wall."

Laughing Leah snatched the phone from Sam's hand and made her way out of the room, Jacob only catching snippets of the conversation.

"Women - can't live with them, can't go on vacation without them having a breakdown."

Laughing at his older brother Jacob pat against his back and laughed. "It'll be fine bro. So you and this Emily - you're getting pretty serious?"

"Looks like it." Sam shrugged. "She's a good girl. She makes me feel better you know. Makes me - love stuff more."

"Stuff?" Jacob wholeheartedly laughed. His brother was definitely not the emotional type.

"Look - I better get my phone off Leah before those two run up a bill worth a month's rent. It's been good baby brother. Let's do this again."

"Sure Sam. Cheers," Jacob saluted as his brother picked up his beer.

"Smart ass. Oh - and you be careful with that one. She's a heart breaker."

Jacob nodded. "I think I can handle it."

"You better be able to bro. She's one hell of a find. Women like Leah Clearwater don't come along often. A keeper," he nodded, assured of what he was saying.

Jacob had already known that of Leah. He had a suspicion she'd be the only woman in his life who he'd fall head over heels, literally and figuratively.

Leah entered the door, sweeping the cell phone into Sam's hand as he exited the door.

"So" she drawled. "About that dinner?"

Jacob didn't even have to think when he replied.

"Let me grab my jacket."

AN - Little side note for 'J is for Jet'. Jada91 brought up a good point as to why Jake would be wearing an engagement ring. Now, it was Renesmee that initally asked Jacob to marry _her_. Therefore, she would give a ring to him. Mark him for the whole world to see, in some aspects. He was her trophy husband to be, so it seems kind of fitting. Hope that clears that issue up a little. (btw, I totally didn't even notice that little slip in the story). LMFAO. Thanks for all the love guys. It makes my day hearing how you are receiving each chapter. Love.


	12. L

AlphaBet(a)

...

L is for Lace

...

The salty spray of the ocean does nothing to quell the sweet, fresh scent of her hair as it is threaded and pinned to the nape of her neck. The act is precious and Jacob wishes to sit and watch the two quietly, as the world slowly spins around them.

Her big brown eyes flutter softly as the older woman fixes each wildflower perfectly to the bun style; patience and years of practice showing through. Only several tendrils lay loose, one piece tickling over her lips, making her smile, while another hangs near her cheek and ear.

He doesn't mean to stare, but there is something so heart-breakingly beautiful about the girl, and he starts to try and pin point the moment she changed from a child into a woman.

He remembers seeing her for the first time. Smelling and touching her, being afraid of breaking her in his huge hands. From the soft skin of her hands and feet to the small ringlets matted to her tiny head, she was perfect. She'd smelt like fresh linen, like something wild and free yet familiar and tame at the same time. She was a warm sun shower on a bright day. A flower opening for the first time in spring.

His breath catches in his throat as he remembers the first time he held her, held her as those big brown eyes looked up with amazement and wonder, her mouth forming a perfect 'o' as she yawned and fisted his shirt. He could feel her warmth that day, the comfort she radiated.

Letting his memories run forward he sees her again, this time with Emmett. She is the fastest little girl he's ever seen, her legs moving her body gracefully around the thickest trees of the forest just as an adult would. The golden brown leaves barely shift as she runs and laughs, playing tag with her certified godfather.

She grows at an unnaturally fast pace but it doesn't worry him because his thoughts don't drift to the future. His thoughts are only with her; in the here and now. He's learned to take each day as it comes, memorise every moment as if it's the last.

In his mind she's now five, her curly hair held tightly in braids which sit against at her shoulders. She's learning to ride her first bike and his heart stammers in his chest at the act. She's doing so well that he only smiles and waves, hiding the absolute fear he possesses, the emotion manifesting into a tightening of his spine.

He doesn't want to see her hurt and would do anything in his power to keep her safe but her mother insists that she experience every opportunity that a normal child would. Even if they both know she is anything but normal.

A few more years sweep by and he's out in his truck, worry and panic evident on his face. She's been gone two days.

At thirteen, she has threatened to run away before but he hadn't had the heart to believe her. She'd screamed that he didn't trust her to make decisions of her own, that she could look after herself, do what she wants and love who she wants.

The thoughts make him sick and he crumbles as he pulls the truck over and empties his stomach on the sidewalk, the bile burning his parched throat.

It isn't until five hours later he heads home, a call from Rosalie making him almost jack knife a truck to pull a U-turn on the main drive.

When he arrives at the house he doesn't speak just stomps up to her and shakes her fiercely. He can only mutter a 'why' before he breaks down at her feet and holds his face in his hands.

He flinches when she tries to touch his shoulder but he looks up anyway. Tears are falling down her cheeks and the moment she hugs him he knows all is forgiven.

She's eighteen now and off to college in a few days. Her mother warns her about boys once again and he can't help but growl, thinking of all the sweaty little hands fumbling with _his_ girls' blouse.

She does nothing but laugh at her mother, telling her she'll be fine, not to worry, and that she will call every other day.

Her grandfather gives her a book about her history and she hugs him tightly knowing it will come in handy. The old man already knows how special his granddaughter is and he is proud of her for wanting more than a simple life. Even if they all know her life is anything but simple. Especially with the burden of belonging to the Alpha.

She hugs everybody and thanks them for the gifts, asking him to walk with her to the car. Her mother gives them a moment alone together and he feels his throat close.

"I'm only going to be a call away," she says with a smirk, big brown eyes secretly pleading for his approval. His never been able to deny her anything and this time is no exception.

Nodding, he hugs her tightly, kisses her temple and watches her drive away.

"Jacob, it's time," Sue announces as she snaps him from his thoughts and steps away from the girl.

He stands quickly to pat down the crinkled lapel of his jacket and gets ready for one of the most important days of his and her life.

Hearing a knock at the door he smiles as Leah steps in the room, her eyes going wide at the girl in front of her. Leah hugs her tightly and kisses her forehead before moving to stand by him in a warm embrace.

"Do I look okay?" she asks him as she gingerly touches a flower by her ear. "Is it too much?"

"You look beautiful. Like always," Leah answers first, stealing his words straight from his mouth. She's always done that and now that she has, he feels tongue tied.

"Daddy, do you think Embry will like it?"

Jacob gnaws his teeth discretely, not wanting to picture his pack brother and daughter doing anything but running patrol together. He smiles slightly and nods his head, knowing that part of him will _make_ Embry Call like it, even if he doesn't. She's perfect after all.

"You're terrible Jake," Leah laughs as she takes her thumb and rubs it across his cheek. The only people who have ever seen him cry are right here in the room. His wife, his daughter and his mother in law.

"Daddy," Layla smiles softly as she walks over to stand in front of her mother and father, "are you okay?"

"He'll be fine once he finds his backbone," Leah snorts, causing their daughter to roll her eyes.

Jacob feels nothing but pride as he pulls his two girls close to his chest. Everything in his life feels meager compared to the well being and safety of the two closest to him. His alpha position within the pack, the matriarchal position of chief within the tribe, all of it means nothing without them.

"Daddy?" his daughter chuckles as she pats his back softly, returning the hug. "You're kind of squishing my hair."

He sighs and releases his daughter with a kiss on the forehead, paying no attention to Sue Clearwaters glare.

"Sorry honey," he grins sheepishly as he tucks a fallen tendril behind her ear. "Look at you," he begins as he squeezes his wife closer, still trying to find the words in his gumbled mind; the words he's practiced since she was born, for this very moment. "All grown up and no longer my baby girl. Are you sure you really want to marry Embry Call?"

He is met with a growl from his wife, a snort from his mother in law and a giggle from his daughter. He knows he could never win against the three Clearwater women in his life but he would still try as he might.

She wears lace that day. The day of her wedding, the day where he gives his only daughter away to his pack brother. It's a small intimate affair with the pack, her closest family and friends from college.

They had promised themselves years ago, that no matter what, that their daughter would have a life they didn't, opportunities that they had missed out on and regretted their whole lives. Layla would grow up amongst the supernatural regardless but they would do everything in their power to be the parents she needed.

He sits with his glass half empty and his tie undone at the end of the night. He sees his wife laughing and slapping at the wandering hands of Emmett Cullen as they dance. He smiles and leaves it be, his eyes dancing over the thinning crowds that have begun to slowly disperse.

"Hey papa wolf," Emmett hollers as he spins a happy Leah towards him. "Whatcha gonna do now the pups left the den?"

The vampire is smirking, his years of banter and practice coming through. Jacob's never understood the friendship between his wife and the bulky sparkling hemorrhoid, but he has come to except the things he cannot change.

Like the fact that his daughter has fallen in love with _his _best friend. The best friend that was a year _older_ than him.

"What's the matter, baby," Leah coos as she takes a seat on his lap. Brushing a hand through his hair she massages his shoulders and feels him start to relax at her touch.

Sighing, Jacob pulls her closer and buries he face in her neck allowing her scent to overcome him. "Are we doing the right thing, Lee?" he murmurs as she rubs his neck. He loves it when she touches him and he's never wanted to let the feeling become foreign. "Are we right to let our little girl go?"

"Jacob, look at me," Leah says sternly, taking his chin. Her eyes soften when she sees the watery eyes of her big, tough alpha.

Ever since the birth of their daughter, Layla, Jacob Black has been a blubbering mess. The term daddy's girl far exceeds the relationship Leah had with her own father when he was alive.

He's a great man, a great leader, husband and father. He's never done anything without his whole heart and this is no exception.

"You know Embry, Jacob. You _know_ him. He would never betray you and he would never treat Layla with anything but love and respect. I know you're scared and so am I. But we need to let her do this."

"I know," Jacob sighs as he presses his forehead to his wife's. "I know," he whispers as he kisses her softly.

As the cars are loaded his daughter takes his hand and hugs him tightly. The lace of her dress feels unbelievably soft under his rough palms, just as her first baby suit had.

"Thank you, Daddy," she whispers as she kisses his cheek.

"What for?" he frowns as he looks down at his little girl.

"For showing me what a real man should be like. You've always put me and mama first. You've always been there for me, forgiven me, taught me right from wrong."

She giggles as her 'uncle' Emmett gives Embry a shakedown, and with her added supernatural hearing, some pointers for their week long honeymoon.

"You better get going," Jacob growls, glancing at Emmett and imagining tearing the vampires limbs off, slowly and one by one while he grins over the screaming sparkly body.

"Love you, big guy," Layla snorts as she nudges her fathers shoulder and goes to hug her mother goodbye.

He stands and nods at Embry as the pair drive away into the night, headed toward Sea-Tac. He swallows tightly as his heart pounds in his chest. He closes his eyes and catalogues the night, his little girl happy and dressed in both her grandmothers lace.

"Come on, Alpha. Let's get you to bed," Leah drawls as her fingers creep along his waist.

He smiles down at his wife and nods, knowing that no matter what; when he woke up Leah would still be his wife, and Layla would still be his baby girl.

AN - Aww, something sweet and fluffy for Easter. Especially for all you Blackwater lovers. Nothing gets my sweet tooth more satisfied than chocolate and DILF Jacob. ;) Hope I didn't scare you too much in the begining.


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